Gracie Alexander
by winchesterdream
Summary: Sam and Dean are hunting with a companion. Her name is Gracie Alexander. Will relationships form between her and the boys? Read to find out! M for language and some violence.
1. Chapter 1

**This story is the brainchild of the amazing mssammydean! But due to other commitments is unable to continue and has handed over the reins to little old me! A HUGE thank you to her for letting me continue her fine work and for having faith in me to do it well! So I will be continuing from where she left off at chapter 11.  
**

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"Dean cut it out!!" Grace was currently sitting on her motel bed and was failing miserably at swatting away Dean's eager hands from her face.

"Aww is little Gracie scared of a little lovin?" Dean mocked.

"DEAN!!!" she screamed and attempted to punch the jerk in the face.

That failed too causing both the Winchester boys to laugh and point at her.

"It's not funny guys," she exclaimed shaking head at the two immature men before her. "Stop laughing. Guys. What's wrong with you? Stop it! I'll kill you!" Her empty threats just made Sam and Dean laugh harder, causing them to roll around on the floor.

With a grunt, Grace made a way into the bathroom, slamming the door, before getting ready for the day ahead.

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_15 Years Ago_

The Winchester boys were now staying with fellow hunter Maree Alexander as their father was off on a hunting trip that was too dangerous to risk them going with him.

Maree Alexander was the wife of a great hunter, Max Alexander who had gone with John for the hunt. Max was a very good friend of John's and they had met while both hunting a shape shifter up in Milwaukee. He had a daughter named Grace who was joined to Dean's hip. It was almost impossible to get those two separated.

Sam was now 7, Grace was 10 and Dean had just turned 11.

All three held close bonds as they understood what it was like to move around and to never have a stable home, long term friends, or any security that could've been held by staying in one place. Every time the trio had started adapting to the new area, their family would be done with the hunt and would move, starting the cycle once again.

Even at such young ages, they were all very mature. Dean looked after his brother more than his own father did, and he always had some sort of connection with Grace. He had liked her since they met but she didn't ever need to know that.

That night, the Winchesters and Alexander lay in their beds on the top storey of their rented house. Luckily there were a few hunts in the area letting them stay long enough to be able to rent a home. Sam and Grace's beds were located side by side against one wall, while Dean's was opposite to theirs. The moonlight shone through the curtains and cast shadows all over the room.

Grace couldn't fall asleep. While she was meant to be a brave and strong girl, she never liked the dark. Shadows moved around the room making her feel paranoid about everything. Every time she saw movement in the corner of her eyes, she would look but there was nothing ever there that she could see moving.

Unable to stay brave anymore, she did the only thing that would make her feel safe. She ran to Dean.

Shaking Dean awake she started whispering loudly, "Dean. Dean please wake up. I'm scared."

Just like that, the boy who cared for her like family jolted up in his bed, his wary and hunter trained eyes scanned the room before landing on her face.

"Hey, hey, hey, Gracie calm down. I'm right here. You're safe, Nothing's gonna get you alright," he whispered, cradling her body close to him while stroking her hair.

Grace looked up at him, Dean, her protector, and hugged him tight as if never wanting to let go. And at this point, she didn't.

A few moments later after resting her head on Dean's chest, she started to doze off to the place where she could get away from all her nightmares in life.

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The three young children were suddenly awoken with a bang. It sounded like the front door. Moments after plying open their still, sleep-filled eyes, a blood curdling scream ringed throughout the house.

Jumping out of their beds, they ran to the bedroom door, pushed it open and looked over the side of the barriers.

There laying on the red carpet lay a mangled and dead Maree Alexander. The boys' ears were then filled with Grace's loud screams and hysterical cries.

"No!!! MUM!" Grace tried to push her way past Dean to get downstairs. She wanted to get down to her mum. She could still be alive. Please let her be alive. Once again she broke into tears and started punching Dean's chest, trying to make the pain go away.

Sam had turned away from the horrific scene and was trying to help his brother calm down the girl who had been like a sister to him.

Hearing a truck grumble outside, the boys let go of Grace and proceeded down the flight of steps, making sure they had her head turned away from her mother's body.

A distressed John Winchester came bursting through the front door and knocked all three children to their feet before they could register everything.

John, spotting the body, had a look of grief and anger cross his face. _If only he had gotten here quicker. He should have protected her._

Muffled cries tore him away from Maree and it was only then he realised his children were here along with Max's child. Gathering them up in his arms, he held onto them for dear life while coaxing them to calmness.

"Dean, pack you bags. We have to go." Dean obeyed and made a bee-line for his bedroom. "Hey Grace, it's going to be okay, alright? Uncle's John's gonna look after you okay."

Grace silently nodded into John's chest while he carried both her and Sammy upstairs to help Dean.

After minutes of pulling bits and pieces into several duffels, John got ready to load them up into the car and leave this town in his rear view mirror.

"Mr Winchester, where are we going? Where's my dad?!" she cried. "I want my dad!"

John didn't know what to say. He didn't have the heart to tell the poor girl she had lost both her parents in one night. It was all his fault. If he had been paying more attention to the werewolf they were hunting and backing up his friend, then none of this would have happened. Max wouldn't have died because he wasn't on his game, and his wife wouldn't have suffered the fate she did. It was unusual for a werewolf to take one life and go for a loved one but it did happen. He was just glad it hadn't taken his children.

_His children…_ I guess he would have to take Grace in. She wouldn't have anyone to look after her so he had to train her up like his boys as much as he didn't want to. Grace knew about the things that were out in the dark but she had never been taught how to deal with them. Her parents thought she shouldn't be leading this life, not as this age anyway.

"Sorry honey, your dad's not here right now. But we have to go okay?" Dean took her hand and led her out to his dad's black 1986 GMC Sierra Grande before picking her up and placing her in one of the back seats.

Usually he would sit up front with his dad but right now, Grace needed his affection so he was going to give it to her. Plopping down on the seat and snapping on both of their seatbelts, Sam and his dad got seated before they both sped off to another town, another motel room.

Pulling up to a cheap motel on the outskirts of Indiana, John paid for the night and ushered all the kids inside.

While Dean had gotten Grace inside the car, he had called the police and an ambulance for Maree, not that it would do much good once they got there.

"Alright kids, I'm going to make a few calls. You guys settle in and go to bed alright?" He looked at the three children who all gave nods of understanding.

"Mr Winchester? Can I sleep in Dean's bed tonight?" Grace asked, perched up on her knees in her bed.

Looking to Dean as if asking permission and seeing his nod, he nodded in approval and stepped out into the chilly air. _Damn kids are gonna drive each other nuts once they grow up. Hormonal teenagers. Shit._

Picking up his phone from his pocket, he dialled a number that he had dialled countless times it had been committed to memory. Bobby Singer.

"What?" A gruff voice asked through the phone.

"Hey Bobby," John replied.

"Oh damn it. What have you done now John? It better be an emergency since you're waking me up at about 1 am," he grumbled after looking at his digital clock on his night stand.

"Max and Maree Alexander are dead." Bobby's eyes widened in surprise.

"No way. What happened? Who did it? Is Grace okay? What-"

He was cut off with John speaking into the phone. "Bobby calm down. I'll explain it all later for you okay?" Hearing no reply from Bobby he continued. "Grace is fine. She's a bit upset right now, but she'll be fine. She's a strong kid. Right now we need a place to stay and I need to get some adoption papers."

"Yeah alright. I'll pack up this dump and get two rooms ready for you all tomorrow. We can swing by a court later on and get those papers for you to sign."

With a nod that Bobby couldn't see, John hung up and entered the motel again for some much needed sleep.

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_Present_

Applying some light make up to face and doing a once over on her hair with her brush, Grace deemed herself presentable and stepped out into the room.

"So where are we going guys? We got a case?" she asked directing the question at Sam as he was usually the one in charge of all the research and finding new cases.

"No actually. Since we finished up that voodoo case, i've looked everywhere and haven't found a thing," he stated.

"Hmm interesting. Guess we've got ourselves a break huh guys?" Dean beamed, thwacking his hand on Sam's chest knocking the wind out of him.

"Think we could go to the beach? I hear there'll be some hot babes there Sam." At this comment, Grace couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy shoot through her. She had no idea why. It's not like she had any feelings for Dean.

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_Flashback: Grace 12, Dean 13_

"Come on Grace. Let's do it!" Dean pleaded. "I need to do this. I have a date! Come on please."

Dean had just asked a hot chick from school out on a date and he needed to practice his kissing skills. What? It was his first real date. It's not like he was born with the ability to kiss well, and he needed to make a good first impression.

Rolling her eyes, Grace let out a breath. "Fine, but only because I have a date with Fred today and I need some practice too."

Sitting cross legged on the grass in the backyard, the two young teenagers faced each other and were about to kiss.

They leaned in until there lips were a mere centimetre away from each other before Dean closed the gap and pressed his lips to hers.

It was nothing like he imagined. Her lips were so soft. He wanted more, so he opened up his mouth just a little before moving them against hers, stifling a groan that was just begging to be released.

Little did he know, Grace was enjoying it a lot too. She knew it was kind of wrong since they were almost brother and sister, but she had always liked Dean. The only reason she went out with other boys was because she knew she could never have him.

Dean, still eager for more, wanted to try something. He had seen it on television and in movies, also those videos his dad kept in his room under the bed in a small box. _Stuff it, _he thought. _We're already kissing so might as well do it._

Without giving her any warning, Dean opened his mouth more and shoved his tongue down Grace's throat.

She gagged and he wondered if he had done it wrong.

"Dean. What are you doing?! Are you trying to suffocate and kill me? Use your hands if you want to do that!" With that, she got up off the grass and walked back into the house, leaving a stunned and very confused Dean on the lawn.

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_Present_

"Whatever Dean. I'm bored so let's go."

The trio changed into their swimming gear they had in their duffels from the swimming they did occasionally on hunts or while on break like they were now. Grace loved the water so they always kept a pair of trunks just in case.

Flinging on t-shirts for until they arrived, they piled into Dean's impala and sped off to a beach they were oh so luckily close to.

"We're here," Dean announced.

Before Dean even pulled the brake to stop the car, Grace bounded out and began to lift her top off. _Damn she looks good_. Running out of the car park and onto the sand, she dived into some oncoming waves and enjoyed the feel of the cool water on her skin.

The boys, laughing, got out and went to join her. Dean jumped into the water to find Grace while Sam got the towels and food set up.

Swimming low in the water, Dean snuck up behind Grace and was about to pounce when she spun around and dunked him under the water, catching him by surprise.

"Jesus Grace! How'd you know I as there?!" he demanded, mad at himself for being caught.

"I seem to have radars for when I have losers close to me…" he grinned.

"Oh you're getting it now Miss Alexander!" Dean lifted Grace up in his arms and threw her into the water ahead. She squealed in surprise and tried to get away from him, as he was going in for a second attempt.

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Sam was lying down on the towels he had set up earlier and was enjoying the sun. It felt good to just lie down and relax after running around killing paranormal beings day after day.

He was close to falling asleep on the slope when a scream echoed in his ears. Sitting up fully alert, he spotted a frantic and very scared Grace out in the ocean.

He jumped up from his position and started running towards her.

"Dean! Dean there's a shark!!! DEAN!!" Grace jumped from Dean's grasp and began running back to shore.

Dean held onto her once again and she struggled to get away from him.

"Dean!!! What are you doing! There's a shark!!!" she cried.

"Shhhh…Gracie it's okay. There's no shark. It's just a boy playing around okay."

Grace looked up from Dean's chest to see a young boy looking at her. She then realised he was just wearing one of those fake shark fins and swimming around. She also noticed she had gain more attention too. Just about everyone in a hundred metre radius was no staring at her. Looking down in embarrassment, she whispered a 'sorry' and headed back up to where Sam was standing on the sand.

"Hey Grace, you okay? I heard you scream and thought you were in trouble," Sam said softly as he guided her up to their area followed closely by Dean.

She nodded and sat down on the towels as Sam handed her a bottle of water. "Thanks."

"Hey we'll just chill out here for a bit, 'kay Gracie?" Dean suggested. "We can go back out into the water later if you want."

Grace once again nodded and curled up into Dean's chest while all three once again fell asleep in peace.

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"Dean. Dean." Dean was still asleep with Grace in his arms. "Dean!"

Dean rolled over to face Sam and gave him a look that said 'What the fuck man? I'm sleeping! This better be important or I'm kicking your ass!!'

"It's late man. It'll be night soon, we should go."

Looking around, Dean nodded and picked up Grace in his arms before making his way to his car.

Placing her in the backseat as gently as possible, the boys got in the front and drove back to the hotel in silence, Dean sneaking peeks at Grace every so often to make sure she was going okay. This didn't go unnoticed by Sam though.

Arriving at the motel, Sam went to unlock their door while Dean carried her to a bed.

"Hey Gracie, wake up sweetie. It's time for dinner."

Grace looked around and realised Dean had spoken to her. "What?" She had just woken up so what he had said hadn't been registered by her just yet.

"I said it's time to eat. What do you want squirt?" he asked.

Grace crinkled her nose up at her pet name and ordered her usual of cheeseburger, no pickle, and fries.

After asking what Sam wanted, Dean picked up his keys and drove up to the diner they had passed while driving.

"Soooo…" Grace started. They had both been sitting on their beds for about fifteen minutes in pure silence. It was time to break it. "What will we do tonight?"

Sam peered over at her, tearing his gaze from the window to look at Grace. "Not sure. We might head to a bar later on for a couple drinks."

"Sounds good," she smiled.

Before he was interrupted, Sam had been thinking about Grace. Well…Dean and Grace. He knew there was some undeniable attraction going on between those two and he wasn't sure he liked it, not at all. It's not that he was jealous- pretty far from it actually. He just didn't want to see Grace end up hurt because of Dean's playboy ways. On all of their previous hunts, Dean had always slept with countless girls and flirted with a million more. If Grace and Dean were to be together, he feared she would end up getting her heart broken if Dean didn't change the way he was. But he knew Dean cared about her and would never do anything to hurt her intentionally. He also knew that if a busty blonde came their way, Dean would most likely forget all about Grace and start to flirt away. Both ways, them two being together was not a good idea. Maybe if anything happened he'd have to stop it.

Not too long later, Dean barged through the motel room door, three paper bags clutched in his hands.

"One cheeseburger, no pickles, and fries for Grace," he said handing her one of the bags, "And a double whopper for Sammy." He threw Sam another bag who was situated at the centre desk on his laptop.

"It's Sam," he exclaimed after opening up the bag and digging in.

"Whatever. I call you Sammy and that's final," he said over Sam's grumbling.

"Still no hunt, right guys?" Both men turned to look at Grace as if remembering she was in the room.

"Uhh no. Still nothing since the last time I checked which was five minutes ago!"

"Gee calm down Sam. Don't have a heart attack on me," she said rolling her eyes as Dean stifled a laugh.

"Shut it Dean." Dean looked over to where Sam was sitting and started death glaring him. Obviously feeling uncomfortable with the situation, Sam awkwardly turned away looking at anything but Dean. _Gosh he was creepy._

"Hey Sam, Gracie, I don't know about you guys but I want to go out to a bar and drink!"

"Yeah it's not like we have anything better to do anyways," Sam chirped.

"Alrighty then. Just let me go get changed and we'll go," Grace said, skipping into the bathroom with her duffel.

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About an hour and a half later on the boys' behalf, Gracie stepped out of the bathroom looking absolutely gorgeous. Sam and Dean agreed too, they were practically drooling.

"What?" Grace was wearing a black halter dress that stopped just over half way down her thigh. From their, the bottom of the dress cut down in a nice diagonal, and there was a black ribbon around her midsection showing off her beautiful curves.

Her brown hair was down and wavy, wisps of it slightly covering the sides of her face making her look like a goddess.

She wore some black eyeliner, with some brown eye shadow to accentuate her big hazel eyes. After topping it off with some shiny lip gloss and some nice 5 inch black heels, she was all done up.

"Wow Grace, you look-"

"…absolutely beautiful." Dean finished.

"Thank you," she said blushing. We should go, if we want to get in a good spot."

Nodding dumbly, still drooling over Grace, the boys got up from their seats and made their way to the impala.

"Jesus Christ, where did you get that dress from Gracie? Why do you have it, and why haven't I seen it before?!!" Dean screamed while driving, obviously upset he had never gotten the chance to admire her in it before.

"Well…" she started. "I bought it a couple months ago when I went shopping, I have it because you never know when you might need and elegant dress, and you have never seen it before because you never asked me to dress up prettily so humph!" Grace finished her rant and sat back with a smirk as she watched Dean pout in the front seat.

Sam was trying his best not to laugh his head off in the passenger seat. "HAHA, oh D-Dean, you just got t-told off by a girl!!!" Sam didn't even try hiding it anymore and broke into full laughter, with Grace right behind.

"Oh shut up you two." He crossed his arms and glared at the laughing pair.

"DEAN, you're driving! Keep you hands on the fucking wheel, would you?!" They both screamed at him as he started to swerve into the next lane. They were lucky it was so late at night not many people were out driving.

After an hour of Dean's terribly dangerous driving, the trio made it to a club in town.

"Argh!" Grace screamed. "LAND!"

"Oh stop being dramatic Gracie. I'm an awesome driver and you know it," Dean grinned.

Making their way into the club after Dean got a bit aggressive with the bouncer, they made their way to the bar and ordered three beers.

Dean was in heaven right now. The women in this club were just _absolutely irresistible. _But that obviously didn't steer his attention away from the beauty beside him.

"You wanna dance?"

Grace raised her eyebrows at Dean's suggestion. "Dean Winchester dances now, does he?" she giggled out.

"He does for you." She knew it sounded incredibly cheesy but she couldn't help but blush and take his outstretched hand.

Justin Timberlake's Sexy Back came on over the speakers and that's when Grace got really into it.

"I love this song Dean!!" she yelled over the loud music.

_I'm bringing sexy back, yeah! The mother fuckers watch how I attack, yeah!_

Grace and Dean were standing with his chest and her back together, their hips moving with the beat of the song. Grace's arms were up around Dean's neck and his around her waist, pulling her hips closer to his.

_If that's your girl you better watch your back. Cause she'll burn it up for me and that's a fact._

The song matched Dean pretty well. Dean could and usually did have any girl he wanted.

Their hips were still grinding together as a new song played. Lil' Wayne's Lollipop.

_Shawty wanna thug.  
Bottles in the club.  
Shawty wanna hump.  
You know I like to touch your lovely lady lumps._

As they danced, Dean couldn't help but feel a tiny bit turned on. Or…maybe a lot.

_OK, little mama had a swag like mine.  
She even wear her hair down her back like mine.  
I make her feel right when it's wrong like lying.  
Man, she ain't never had a love like mine.  
And man I ain't never seen an ass like hers.  
And that pussy in my mouth had me loss for words.  
Told her back it up like erp erp.  
And I made that ass jump like jerk, jerk.  
And that's when she lick me like a lollipop.  
She lick me like a lollipop.  
She lick me like a lollipop.  
She lick me like a lollipop._

Oh yeah. Definitely turned on. Grace dancing against him certainly wasn't helping. They stopped as she let out a giggle.

"What?" he asked confused.

"Dean, you little horn dog," she pushed him and laughed as she walked away. "Don't think I didn't feel that!"

Now Dean wasn't usually the one to blush, but he did. Damn if Sammy ever found out he got a hard on while dancing. He shook his head and made his way back over to his two companions.

Spotting them by the table, he couldn't help but notice them laughing at something as he sat down. _God please, tell me you didn't tell him Gracie._

"What is it you guys?" I asked fiddling with my beer bottle and looking at the table as if it was the cure for cancer.

"So Grace tells me that…" Sam started.

"Okay, okay. I admit it. That song got me turned on, and I couldn't help but get turned on as Gracie was pushing her ass into me. I promise not to do it again, so don't laugh guys. I told you I couldn't help it." he said in one long babble, looking embarrassed.

Sam started laughing harder. "You what?" Dean looked beside him and well enough, Grace was laughing too. "Man, I don't know why you told me that but Grace here was just telling me about the guy dancing in front of her. Said he had chicken legs," he giggled.

Dean's ears turned pink and he quickly tried to cover it up. "Man did you just giggle?"

Failing miserably at trying to direct the attention away from him, the rest of the night was spent with Sam and Grace making jokes about their older sibling, and Dean mumbling about how he was fully manly. _Yeah, keep saying that and you just might believe it Dean._

"Fine don't listen to me guys, I'm going back to the motel. You can catch a ride home." He had only lasted one hour of their teasing before he had had enough.

Storming out of the club, Sam and Grace exchanged glances.

"Oops. I think we might have gone too far?" Sam answered with a nod. "Guess we should head back then, right?"

"Yeah about that…we have no car." Sam pointed out. Seeing the pissed off look on Grace's face, he turned away to stare at some wall that had suddenly become interesting. "You're not going to kill my brother, right?" No reply. "Right?"

"Come on Sam, let's go." He had no other choice but to follow her.

They spent about 15 minutes tracking down a taxi that would take them to their motel, and when they finally did, Sam was stuck with a particularly moody Grace.

"Stupid Dean. Leaving us in a stupid club to find our way to our stupid motel. And stupid taxi for taking 15 stupid minutes to pick us up," she growled.

When they arrived back at their motel, Sam twisted the doorknob open and flicked on the lights, Grace following behind and slamming the door.

Seeing the annoyed looks on both Grace and Dean's faces, Sam trotted on into the bathroom as to avoid the war that was about to begin.

"I can't believe you left us at the fucking club, Dean!" Grace yelled, throwing her purse on the bed.

"Well I wouldn't have had to if you and Sam had just backed off!"

"Shut up Dean. Just because you couldn't take a joke, didn't mean you had to leave us stranded!"

"St-stranded?!?! Taxis! You eventually made it back! What's your problem?!" He threw his arms in the air.

"DEAN! My point is what if there were no taxis? Would you have just left us there to die?! Or get kidnapped?!! Or mugged!"

"Oh stop being dramatic. You're a hunter, like you're going to get mugged! Or die! How could you possibly die?!" he screamed in her face, rolling his eyes.

"We could've been…killed by the kidnappers!"

"Jesus, go to bed Grace, no point in arguing about nothing." he said, walking over to his bed.

"No Dean. I'm not letting it go."

"Why not?"

"Because."

"Because? That's not a reason Grace." Dean crossed his arms. "Do you want to fight me or something? What's wrong with you?"

"Yeah Dean, let's fight. I have absolutely nothing better to do than fight you right now Dean."

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While the two were at it, Sam sat on the toilet lid in the bathroom, waiting for them to be done. They didn't usually fight but when they did, it was damn scary.

Sitting even in a closed room, he could hear their grunts and yells from behind the door.

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Powering her clenched fist towards Dean's face, it connected with his jaw and he fell back to the right. He was going to be sporting a nice shiner on his left cheek tomorrow morning.

As Grace bent down to pick him up from his collar and hit him again, Dean's feet shot out from under him and knocked her down to the ground.

With a grunt, they both picked themselves up and went for each other again. Dean tackled Grace on the ground as she fought against his hands which were binding hers together.

Using the momentum of Dean wriggling around, she was able to turn the tables and sit on his torso, preventing him from moving.

"What the hell Dean. Take it easy," she grinned and looked towards the bathroom door.

Having Grace distracted, Dean was able to once again flip them around so he was now on top.

"God Grace, stop it. I think that's enough fighting for one night," he said as he had her arms pinned up above her head.

Breathing heavily against each other, Dean realized for the first time how close their faces were. Glassy eyes looked back up at him and he couldn't resist.

He swooped down and captured her lips in hers. Just like when they were younger, it was nothing like they could imagine. God how good this felt.

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Sam, thinking it was safe to retreat from shelter, stood up and opened the bathroom door only to find Dean and Grace kissing on the carpeted floor, hands mussed in the others' hair.

"Shit. Crap. Oh god. I'm so sorry. Shit." Sam started apologizing profusely for walking in on them and decided it would be safe to crawl back into his hiding spot.

Pulling away from each other, the two let out a laugh at innocent Sam before telling him it was okay to come out.

"Sorry you had to see that Sammy. Didn't think you'd be coming out from all the fighting you heard," Dean smiled.

"Yeah well I thought you guys were done. Anyways, I'm going to bed now. I never saw any of that. I'm still innocent. Still innocent. Still innocent," he repeated to himself as he climbed under the covers.

"Okay then. Guess it's goodnight." Grace nodded and climbed into her own bed after Dean gave her a peck on the lips.

Falling into his own slumber, Dean smiled in satisfaction.

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"Wake up!"

Grace was awoken from her peaceful sleep by something big and soft hitting her on the back of the head.

"What the f-", she started before being cut off by a creepily chipper Sam.

"Sorry Grace, no more sleeping. We got a case."

She reluctantly rolled over in her bed to find bright light streaming in from the puking green curtains, and an alarm clock that read 6:35am.

"Oh god," she groaned loudly. No one should be this happy, this early in the morning.

She was only met with a wide grin from Sam. Ugh.

"Dean awake yet?" she asked. He nodded his head in Dean's direction so she saw that he was still safe from the evil of…early mornings. _That won't last long._

"We got any warm water Sammich?" she asked smiling.

"Sammich? Where did that come from?" Sam was standing in front of her and wasn't looking amused at his new name.

"Dunno, read it somewhere probably." She shrugged.

"Whatever. But yeah we have warm water, why?" He had an inkling as to what she wanted to do but she wanted to hear her say it. Just to be sure.

"Hmm…I don't know Sam, you tell me. What do you see? Warm water, a bowl, a sleeping Dean…"

Sam's grouchiness wore off and he was beaming like a kid on Christmas.

"No way."

"Yes way," she laughed.

"That doesn't work Grace!"

"Sure it does! Just wait and see. Get me that warm water now, would you?"

Sam nodded enthusiastically and practically ran into the bathroom to retrieve the water.

_Oh poor Dean. If only he knew._

Coming out with a bowl of warm water in his hands, he handed it over to Grace who put it on the floor under Dean's right hand.

"So now we wait."

"Now we eat," Sam said. "If it does really work then we should give it some time and get breakfast while we're waiting."

Grace nodded in agreement as they took the impala out to the pancake house not too far away.

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"Oh yum. That syrup was delicious," Sam stated.

The two had just finished off their breakfast which took well over two hours, and they were just outside of their motel room.

Grace inserted the key and entered the room, seeing a very…wet Dean on the bed.

Sam giggled, "Holy crap."

The comforter had ridden down past Dean's waist and they could clearly see the patch of wetness at the front of his sweatpants.

"Think we should wake him up?" she asked. Sam nodded. "DEEAN! WAKE UP!"

Grace had yelled so loud, Sam jumped back in shock and he was sure the whole building had heard.

Dean shot of from the bed and tipped the bowl of water all over the carpet.

"What th…"

"Oh hey Dean. Have a nice sleep?"

Dean stared at Grace and Sam, hoping to uncover whatever secret they seemed to be hiding.

"What?" he asked.

"What?" they shot back.

"What?"

"What are we whatting about?!"

"What?"

"I dunno."

Dean shook his head at them and started to make his way to the bathroom. That was when he noticed the wetness between his legs and also the bowl that was now tipped upside down next to his bed.

"Oh you didn't," he growled.

"Oh we did." Sam and Grace burst into laughter as Dean chased them both around in the parking lot.

"Dean, Dean, no let me go," Grace pleaded while laughing as Dean caught her around the waist and began tickling her.

"Not getting away that easily squirt," he said, continuing with his administrations.

"Dean!" she squealed.

Dean refused to let go but stopped when an elderly couple walked by and saw his "accident".

"Shit. I forgot I was still…"

Before he got the chance to be embarrassed, the feeling was replaces with anger when he saw Sam and Grace running back to the motel room.

Seeing they had slammed the door, Dean quickly ran up to the room and twisted the knob but it was locked.

"Sam. Grace. Open up!!!" he yelled as he pounded on the door.

People had come out of their rooms and were looking at all the commotion he was causing.

"Guys you have three seconds to open the door before I kick it down."

"You won't kill us will you?" asked a very frightened Grace from inside.

"Not if you open the door now! If you don't, then yes, I will kill you both!"

Two seconds and a half later, the door swung open to reveal…no one. Turns out Sam and Grace hadn't stuck around to see if Dean was telling the truth or not.

"Get out of the bathroom you guys. Gotta change my pants." he grumbled.

The two stumbled out and ducked for cover in their beds, hoping Dean wouldn't hurt them. They were mildly surprised when all Dean did was go inside and change like he said.

"You guys can stop hiding you know. I won't eat you if that's what you think," he chuckled, even though he was mad.

The pair slowly emerged from under the bed and stood up beside each other.

"Eww, I think I swallowed some dust," Grace choked out. Sam stared at her mouth in disgust.

"Tell me you guys brought me breakfast. I'm freaking starving!"

"Uhh we'll go…get you some now," Sam stuttered. He walked to grab the car keys but Dean stopped him with a hand gesture.

"Nah it's okay, I'll grab something on the way out."

Sam and Grace exchanged confused glances, neither knowing why Dean was acting so calm and, well, not mad towards them. I mean, they did just make Dean wet his pants.

"Okay then," they both said, grabbing their coats.

"So where exactly are we going Dean?"

"Well we have no job so we are officially going to the Grand Canyon. Just like you wanted Grace." He smiled and so did she, glad that he had remembered that small fact she had told them a couple of months ago.


	2. The Grand Canyon

Driving to Arizona had been no easy task. It took nearly two days but they eventually got there.

Stepping out of the impala, Sam jumped up, glad to be able to stretch his legs while Grace lifted her hands up above her head and arched her back. Dean on the other hand, climbed out since he was used to being in his baby for long periods of time.

"Well, here we are guys," Grace said to the boys with a happy smile on her face.

Slinging an arm over her shoulder, Dean led Grace out of the motel parking lot and into the main office to get a room.

Walking in, they were greeted with a stench that made Grace want to hurl and Dean looked like he was sucking on a lemon. _God, please let the room be better than this._

A middle aged man was sitting at his computer behind the desk, staring at something that was obviously interesting on the screen.

"Hi, we're looking to get a room," Dean announced and the man jumped in shock at someone being in the room.

Standing up he moved over to where they were standing on the left.

"Uhh what can I get you? Queen?" the man asked, assuming they were a couple.

Grace looked at him with her mouth agape, half from surprise and half because she was a little pleased at the thought.

Dean, catching her reaction in the wrong way leaned in to whisper in her ear. "It's better than what we usually get labelled as. People always think Sammy and I are gay." Grace looked at Dean's face and he looked as if he was in pain. Gee…egotistical much.

Shaking her head she said to the manager, "No, we'd like one room, three singles."

With a raised eyebrow, the man shook his head. "I'm sorry, we don't have any rooms with three beds. We only have ones with two."

Dean and Grace looked at each other, deciding they would rather just share one room than get another. Hey, credit cards didn't come easy.

"Alright we'll take a room with two beds then," Dean sighed pulling out his credit card.

The man nodded and told them they would be staying in room 11.

"How many nights are you intending to stay for?" he asked, getting ready to type in the information on the computer.

Dean looked at Grace, as it would be up to her how long they stayed.

"Umm, give us three days. We'll let you know if we want to stay for longer." He nodded and gave them three sets of keys to the room.

Grabbing the keys, the two made their way outside to where Sam was waiting patiently by the impala.

"Here you go Sammy," said Dean as he threw Sam a set of keys who caught them easily.

They all got back into the impala so they could drive and park closer to their motel room.

"Alrighty, room 11." Dean pulled up into a vacant parking space and all three climbed out to fetch their bags.

Opening the door to the motel room, they saw it was a decent room which fortunately didn't smell like the main office did.

"Man did that place reek," Grace scowled as they walked through the door. The boys just laughed at her but stopped when she turned to glare at them.

"What?" Dean asked looking incredibly adorable, causing Grace to giggle, and Dean to grin.

"Nothing. So when do you want to head out boys?" she asked them.

Both shrugged so they agreed the smartest thing to do would be to sleep for the whole day before getting up nice and early tomorrow to go sight-seeing. But there was one problem…

"Hey guys." Sam and Dean looked up from their duffel bags where they were unpacking and turned to face Grace. "We only have two beds…so I don't see how that works."

Looking around the room, they weren't pleased to find that there wasn't a couch where the third person could sleep, and they were pretty sure no one wanted to sleep on the floor.

"Guess someone will have to share," Sam stated.

"I'm voting for me and you, Gracie," Dean said with a wink.

Rolling his eyes, Sam jumped into bed and got ready to sleep.

"Hey, I never said I agreed," Grace protested.

"What, you wanna go sleep in Sam's bed?" Dean asked incredulously. "Have you seen him? Man kicks in his sleep. Ugh."

Looking over at Sam, she decided she wouldn't bother disturbing poor Sammy so she would be bunking with Dean for the next few nights.

"Don't even try anything Winchester," she warned.

Dean put his hands up in surrender and climbed in, in only his black boxer shorts and plain shirt.

"You gonna join me? I'm freezing here holding the blankets open," he grumbled.

Grace nodded and stripped down only to her shorts and tank top and followed suit.

"Dean." she soon said.

"What?" he asked.

"Stop it." said Grace, elbowing Dean in the stomach.

"Stop what Gracie? I'm not doing anything!" he said with a grin.

"Oh shut up Dean. I told you not to try anything. Take your hands off of my hips now!" she ordered.

"You weren't kidding when you said you were ticklish, were you?" Feeling the shake of her head against his chest, he smiled and removed them from her hips, putting them all the way around her waist and cuddling up to her where he was sure she wouldn't mind.

Soon enough, all three were asleep, ready to start off the next day with a bang.

-------------------------

"Sam, Sam, wake up, wake up," a voice shouted.

"Muhhh?" A completely incoherent Sam rolled over in his bed to find one very excited Grace bouncing up and down on his mattress. _Groan. _"What is it Grace?"

"Wake up Sam! Let's go!" she yelled.

"Wha…go where?" Sam asked confused.

"We need to go out and explore Sammich! Come on! We need to get a head start!" she squealed unable to contain her excitement.

Sitting up on his bed, Sam rubbed a hand over his face trying to rid himself of the sleep he wanted so badly.

"Head start on what?" he asked sarcastically. "It's not like they won't let us see the Grand Canyon is we're not the first ones there."

Grace punched Sam in the arm at that comment and hurried him into the bathroom to get showered and changed.

Turning towards the bed she had slept in last night, she strode over to Dean's still sleeping form.

_Poke._

Nothing.

_Poke._

Nothing again.

_Jab._

Nothing still.

_Harder jab._

Groan.

_Push._

Wriggling.

_Shove._

Whining.

_Slap._

"Grace Alexander, you touch me one more time and I will kick you into next week!" Dean yelled as he abruptly sat up, scaring Grace and causing her to back away a few steps.

"Hello," she said as she waved at him with a shy smile on her face.

"Unbelievable," said Dean, shaking his head at his friend's crazy antics.

"Heehee!" she grinned widely.

"What am I doing up right now? It's what, seven in the morning?" he said while looking at the clock beside his bed.

"Well…like I told Sam, we need to get a head start if we want to see everything today!" Grace said.

"Wow. You woke Sam up before me? Poor guy," said Dean sympathetically. "And don't worry Gracie, we have all the time in the world. We're staying here for at least three days, remember?" She nodded.

At that moment, Sam decided to come out of the bathroom clad only in a towel since he never got the time to get his clothes when Grace practically dragged him in. (**A/N: Awesome mental image, right girls? Especially after 4.09… *drools***)

"Holy…" Grace stared at Sam's wonderful physique and wondered why she never noticed those amazing muscles of his. _Probably all those damn layers the Winchesters insist to wear._

Hearing a cough behind her, Grace brought herself from her thoughts and ushered an annoyed Dean into the shower where Sam had just been.

"Staring at me now, huh Grace?" Sam asked with an amused look on his face.

"No," she said quietly, cheeks tinting ever so slightly red.

"Huh," Sam concluded and walked over to his duffel to retrieve his clothes. "Umm you mind turning around for a bit? Dean's in the shower so I kinda have to change here and…you know…"

Grace nodded, understanding where he was going and turned around while Sam took off his towel and began to put his clothes on.

Not too long after, Dean walked out, fully clothed and they were all set.

"So…breakfast time," he said.

Sam and Grace nodded and walked out while Dean was still annoyed that Grace was checking out his brother. _She should have been checking out me. I look way better than my brother. Ugh._

Picking up the keys to the impala, he locked the motel room door and jumped into the car with his two awaiting companions.

Driving to the nearest diner, they ordered three short stacks and dug in.

"So are we going to check out the Gran Canyon first?" Grace asked over a mouthful of food.

Sam looked on, a little grossed out, and went back to eating his food.

"Yeah, we'll check it out first before we go to some other place," Dean replied, also chewing with his mouth full.

"Okay can you guys please not talk while you're eating? It's kind of grossing me out here," Sam said suddenly, looking warily at both Dean and Gracie.

His tactic didn't work as they both just shovelled more food into their mouths, making sure to make obscene chewing noises in front of Sam's face.

_Facepalm._

Once they were done, they threw a couple of bills onto the table and made their way back to the car.

"Grand Canyon, here we come."-------------Standing on the skywalk with their arms hooked over the sides, the Winchesters and Grace were able to see the beautiful wonder everyone called the Grand Canyon.

Grace looked on in wonder at the great gorge before her. She was amazed that was she was looking at had been created over millions of years.

The rock had beautiful contours running across in length, and the depths of it were coiled with jaggedness and levels of waves.

Feeling an arm draped across her shoulder, she turned around to see Dean smiling down at her.

"Thank you for bringing me here Dean," she said to him with the utter most sincerity.

Dean nodded to her and they hugged as if he was saying 'you're welcome'.

Looking to her left, she saw Sam approaching them with a wide grin plastered on his face.

"What?" they both asked.

"Nothing," he said laughing, and shaking his head. "It's just, I never thought in our entire life we'd make it to the Grand Canyon."

"Yeah, well thank Gracie and the total lack of cases!" Grace smiled.

The three stayed at the Grand Canyon National Park for just a few more hours before leaving.

Little did they know, there was a case to be solved - and it was right here in Arizona.


	3. A new case

------

"Well, it's like 11 now. You guys wanna get something to eat?" Dean asked from the driver's seat, looking back at Grace in the rear view mirror.

They had just left the Grand Canyon National Park and were now looking to get some lunch before either heading back to the motel or going to explore some other interesting places.

"Yeah I'm hungry," Grace replied rubbing her stomach and smiling. Sam nodded in agreement, his own hunger beginning to surface.

"Okay then, diner's up ahead," said Dean as he pulled up in a parking space.

Entering the diner they were very glad to see it was decent looking. The floors were clean, the white tabletops were white like they were supposed to be, and it just had a clean and fresh atmosphere in general.

If you had seen some of the grimy, old diners they had been to, you would be happy too to see a place like this.

Sighing in happiness, all three plonked down on their benches at a table at the back of the room. This way, they could avoid too many people seeing them, and be on the lookout at the same time.

Dean sat on one side of the table, while Grace was curled up against Sam's side on the other.

"Hi, what can I get you?" A nice looking waitress came up to the desk with her dirty blonde hair tied up in a long ponytail. She held her notepad with a smile on her face, while also made them smile seeing as most of the time, the waitresses weren't very friendly and polite.

"I'll have a summer wrap thanks," replied Grace.

"We'll have some of those lovely chicken burgers you have to offer," Dean smiled, gesturing at himself and Sam.

The waitress nodded and sauntered away, hips sashaying as she walked off. Sam smiled.

"Like her Sam?" Sam quickly turned to look at Dean, cocking his head to the side in confusion.

"Hmm?" he asked.

"Calm down Sammich. You'll get whiplash if you keep turning your head that way." Grace and Dean both laughed softly at him.

"I said, do you like her Sammy?" Dean repeated. Seeing the shake of Sam's head, Grace came in.

"Oh yeah, you _sooo _weren't checking her out just then." Grace said confidently with a raise of her eyebrows.

"What, I wasn't!" Sam defended. The banter between him and the other two continued for the rest of their lunch. Sam kept trying to deny the attraction which made Dean and Grace very amused.

"Okay Sam, calm down, let's go." The three stood up while Grace went to the counter to pay for the bill. "Don't worry, I promise we'll come back," Dean said to Sam with a smirk. He just rolled his eyes at Dean.

They made their way into the impala and just sat back in their seats.

"Where to now?" Grace asked, looking at Dean from the passenger seat. That's right, Sam's in the back.

"Well unless you can think of a place you want to go to now, I say we head back to the motel and just chill out for a bit, what do you say?" Dean suggested.

Grace nodded and leaned over the seat while Dean drove them back to their room.

Sam smiled as he saw Grace give Dean a small peck on the lips. Maybe he wouldn't have to stop them from being together after all. I mean, they looked happy.

----

Dean and Grace were currently sitting up against their headboard watching Oprah on television while Sam was on his bed looking at his laptop.

"Find some interesting porn you want to show me, Sam?" Dean yelled from his bed. Grace gave him a hard thump on the stomach, earning a look or 'sorry' from him.

"Yeah, says the man who's watching Oprah," Sam shot back.

Dean was speechless, opening and closing his mouth a couple of times before closing it completely after having nothing to say.

"Aww Sammy…don't make fun of Dean!" Grace said playfully as she hugged Dean's side.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just so you know Dean, I wasn't looking at porn," Sam said with a glare. "In fact, turns out someone died earlier this morning."

"What, where?" Dean asked, now propped up on one elbow.

"How do you know?" Grace also asked.

"Well I'm just looking at the local news right now. Turns out someone died this morning in Arizona. In the Grand Canyon National Park," Sam replied looking at both of them. "Just before we left."

"But how could we not have known? I mean…don't you think we would have noticed if someone died?!" Sam was a little shocked at Dean's sudden change in demeanour, but shook it off since it wasn't a rare occurrence.

"It was in a different area. I mean, have you seen how huge the place is? I would be surprised if we _did _know about it." Sam told him.

"Well who died and what happened?" Grace asked eagerly, making her way over to Sam's bed and sitting down. Dean slowly following.

"A woman, Jennifer Carnes, was found mauled on one of the walking tracks earlier this morning. Coroner didn't even bother checking him out since his body was in shreds. Said it looked like a wild animal attack."

"Werewolf maybe? Is the cycle right?" Grace asked.

"No, I just checked those. Won't be a full moon until another week," he told them.

"So, what is it then? If it isn't a werewolf, and not a bear attack I'm assuming, what could it be?" Dean paced across the room trying to figure out what could have killed the man. After ten minutes of it, Grace yelled for Dean to stop as it was getting on her nerves.

"I don't know Dean. I'll have to check it out some more." With that statement, Grace and Dean hopped back into bed while Sam did more research on his laptop.

Mere moments later, Sam stood up suddenly with a loud shout, causing the other two to jump up as well.

"What?" Dean asked quickly, eyes darting around the room.

"There were actually two murders this morning?" Sam said unsurely.

"Super. That's just-" Dean threw his hands up in frustration and growled.

"Yeah." Sam replied shortly, trying not to piss his brother off any more than he already was. "Madeliene Greg. Same deal, but she was found in a local park."

"Is there any connection between the two?" Dean asked.

"Nothing except for the fact that they're both blonde. Probably nothing. Half the country has blonde hair," Sam sighed, rolling his eyes.

------------------

Ashley McRoberts had just come home from a business trip in Chicago. It was a long flight back but she was home now and that was all that mattered.

She kicked off her black high heels and shrugged off her black jacket, leaving herself in a white blouse and a black pencil skirt.

Rubbing the tiredness out of her eyes, Ashley grabbed a cold beer from her fridge and plopped down on her leather couch. Spreading herself along, she took the remote and turned the channel onto the CW where they had some One Tree Hill repeats playing. Taking a few more swigs of the beer, she settled it back onto her coffee table and began to drift off to sleep.

Tonight she would have been sleeping like a log after working some very long hours, but she had been awoken a few times through the night. The first couple of times, she ignored it and turned off the TV thinking that that was the problem but then after that, she began to get a little suspicious as to what it actually was.

Walking quietly around the house she tried to listen to any sounds that she could hear. None. A loud thwack made her jump and let out a little squeak. Looking around for the source of the noise, she realised it was just a tree branch that had hit the window from the wind. _God she needed to call someone to get that branch sawed off._ Turning around to return to the couch, she was met with a burning sensation on her head and her vision went dark as she crashed to the floor.

-----


	4. A rare creature

_------------------_

Waking up and shaking the fuzziness away, she felt a rough texture around her wrists. Upon wriggling around a little more, she realized her hands had been bound together. Flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder and looking around, she could see she was in some alley way of some sort. Thinking back earlier, she remembered what had happened. She had fallen asleep, woken up to investigate, turned around and-

"Oh why hello dear, look who's awake."

A man in a dark coat was leaning against the other side of the wall from her. He was hidden in the shadows of the dumpster but she could clearly see his eyes which were a shiny silvery colour of swirls. He stepped forward a little and revealed his wicked smile.

Ashley shrunk back trying to get as far away from him as possible. Was this the guy who had knocked her out? _Guess I'll find out._

The man stepped forward and kneeled down in front of her. He turned away from her for a split second before turning back before showing her his long jagged teeth, torn and bloody face along with those glowing eyes of his.

He leant down and began to devour her inch by inch. Blood started flowing from all directions on her face. Ashley screamed as loud as she could but no sound came out. Before she could try again, the creature ripped out her throat leaving her dead. It continued with other parts of her body, but leaving some parts mangled on the cold gravel.

After it was satisfied with his meal, his normal face grew back and he slunk back into the darkness.

-------------------

"Tell me you got something man, I'm climbing the freaking walls here! I'd rather claw my eyes out and feed my intestines to wild dogs and take a knife and-" Dean started to ramble, tossing his hands up in the air.

"Dean." Sam warned glaring at Dean, "I get your point already, geez. You don't think I'm sick of this too? It's frustrating me to no end that I don't know what's doing this!"

"Okay guys, I think we should just stop with the research for now. Calm down for a bit before we look into it again and have fresh eyes on it, alright? We should go and check out the park and see what we can find." Both boys nodded, agreeing with what Grace said and they got up to leave.

-------------------

"Ugh yuck." Grace covered her nose as they neared the area where Jennifer was killed. "It smells awful."

They walked over dry leaves and dirt, past tree braches, swatting them away from their faces with their hands raised, and approached the clearing.

"Yeah, I don't even want to imagine what it smelt like when Jennifer's body, or what was left of it, was still here," Dean mused. Grace stared at Dean for a moment, wondering if his nose has temporarily stopped working. No one should be cracking jokes when a smell like this was wafting through the air. Turning away from him with a disgusted look on her face, she went back to guiding herself forward.

Both men turned to look at Grace who was beginning to turn a little green in the face. Dean's statement obviously didn't help her.

"You sure you didn't want to stay back at the car Gracie? You look like you're gonna throw up any minute now," Dean said rubbing her back.

"Nah, I'm cool," she said making the okay sign with her hand.

"Are you sure? I mean, I can walk you back if you want…" Sam offered. She shook her head no so they continued.

Walking a bit further into the bush, Dean spotted a big patch of red just onto the left of the path. "I guess this is where she got ganked."

"Yeah," Sam agreed.

They looked around the area for any clues that might have revealed what they were up against. Grace and Sam had come up with nothing so they waited patiently for Dean.

"Looks like the cops did a pretty good job this time around," said Grace. Sam nodded. "Didn't leave any evidence behind, for once."

Hearing the small, green leaves in front of them rustle, Sam pushed Grace behind him with his left hand, while aiming the gun with his right.

A figure slowly emerged and Sam prepared to fire, when Grace yelled for him to stop.

"No Sam! Wait. It's Dean." Surely enough, Sam looked up carefully into the bush and saw that it was indeed his brother.

"Holy crap Dean. Don't sneak around like that," Sam said letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Sorry bro. Didn't think you'd try to shoot when I came at you," he laughed with his hands up in mock surrender.

"Whatever," Sam rolled his eyes. "You find anything?"

Dean nodded and held up a long tooth covered in blood. It was a good two inches long.

Grace gasped at the discovery while Sam stood, thinking about what creatures would have a tooth like that.

"Dean, I think I know what it is."

-----------

"You think it's a what?" Dean asked Sam for the tenth time in a row.

Sam rolled his eyes. "I said I think it's a Kathra."

Dean coughed. "You wanna run that by me again?" Dean said as he leaned forward and slightly tilted his head to the side with his eyebrows up. (**A/N: You know the face! Like in 3.15 when Rufus said 'you do her ear')**

"A Kathra is a monster who devours his victims. On the outside, he looks like a normal human. But when he hunts, he changes into this…this thing, with long teeth and sharp claws. Pretty creepy if you ask me. The thing that stands out the most about him though? His eyes. They glow this silvery colour and yeah, it scares the crap out of the victim," Sam explained.

Dean and Grace were both silent and the only thing that could be heard was the tv that was on in the background.

"Okay, and we haven't heard of this thing, why??" Grace asked.

"Well one - they're rare, and two - everyone thought they were fake," Sam stated looking at them.

"Yeah…just like dad thought vampires were extinct." Dean rolled his eyes.

Dean got ready to make another smart comment when Sam cut him off.

"What?" he asked.

"Television," was the only thing Sam said. All heads looked at the tv and Sam turned the volume up.

_Ashley McRoberts was found mutilated in an alleyway_ _outside of her house just moments earlier. Police say it was a wild animal attack, but residents beg to differ as this was the third kill like this today._

"Uhh…so we have another murder?" Sam said in disbelief as he looked up at the other two.

"Great." Grace rubbed her right hand over her face in frustration.

"Guys, we need to find the connection between these victims. It's already killed three people so who says it's not going to gun for a fourth?" Sam realised.

"Alright, I'm going to go and interview Jennifer, Madeliene and Ashley's friends and relatives." Dean announced, standing up.

"I'll go to the library and see if I can find some more info on this thing." Grace said as she grabbed her jacket and headed out the door after Dean.

"And…I'll go to the diner to…do more research on the case," Sam sighed loudly to himself.

-----------------

_Dean _

"So you're Jennifer'sbrother, correct?" Dean asked.

"Yup, that's me," the guy named Jamie answered, his hands in his jean pockets.

"Would he happen to know a lady named Ashley McRoberts? Or a Madeliene Greg?"

"No, I don't think so, why do you ask?" Jamie asked, now crossing his arms.

"Well they were killed today. Very much like your sister. We want to see if there's any connection between-"

"Wait." Jamie cut him off. "I thought she died in an animal attack? Why would there be any connection?"

"Well…we have to be thorough…I mean it could be that-"

"Who did you say you were again?" Jamie pushed.

He was looking at Dean expectantly so he pulled out his badge again and answered. "I'm Agent Walker. Federal agent. So uh, can I get a drink? I'm a little thirsty."

Jamie nodded and walked into the kitchen, leaving Dean in the living room which was furnished with nice furniture and white carpet.

He walked over to the cabinet against the wall and looked at some of the pictures that were framed. One picture caught his eye.

"Well hello…" he whispered quietly.

At that moment, Jamie came back with a glass of water and Dean took it, nodding his head in thanks.

"So Jamie, who is this in the picture?" Dean held up a photo with Jennifer in it, along with a girl who looked terribly like Ashley cuddled up to her.

"Oh, that's Jennifer and her friend from high school. Graduated three years ago. Why?" he asked.

"Just wondering. Hey, can you tell me what high school your sister went to?"

"Riverside High." Dean nodded and clicked his pen off on his notepad before making his way to the front door.

"Thank you for you co-operation sir. I'll be sure to let you know if any new information arises."

"You're welcome." Dean walked outside and left.

Sitting in his impala as he drove, Dean thought about the information he had found.

The two of the three victims went to the same school but that could hardly be considered a connection. Thousands of people must have went there.

Maybe the connection wasn't the victims…

Pulling over, Dean grabbed a map from the backseat and took out a black marker. He plotted the locations of the killings on the map and found that they all lay in a pattern. After putting one more dot on the map, they were in a perfect square.

Dean pulled back onto the road and drove like a mad man when he saw where the next killing would be.

---------------------------

_Grace_

Walking around the library, Grace was scanning the mythological section for any books that might help them with the case.

Dragging her index finger along the books, she finally paused on one.

Taking it back to a secluded desk near the back of the building, she flipped it open.

_Kathra's usually live in dark and wet areas – most commonly in caves. They scavenge for food when the supply in their hiding spot is scarce._

Grabbing a map from the front desk, she went back and began to circle all the places where the kathra could be living. In their area, there were three possible locations.

_A kathra can be killed with a silver blade but only_ _by a female._

"Huh. Wonder why that could be," she whispered to herself.

_It is said that males pose no threats to the kathra. Only females. The first kathra was created by a man who was starved and killed humans for food. It was a woman who killed this man._

"Huh. Guess I'll be doing all the work then," she groaned and flipped the book closed.

-----------------

_Sam_

"Excuse me miss?" Sam called from his desk. The friendly waitress from this morning greeted him.

"How may I help you sir?" she smiled.

"Can I get a coffee? I'm gonna face plant into my laptop any minute now," he laughed, pushing it aside.

"Sure. One coffee, coming' straight up."

Moments later, she returned with his coffee, setting in beside his laptop.

"Thanks," he said with a smile on his face.

"No problem. So what are you up to?" she asked, leaning on the desk.

"Not much. Just checking some stuff out on my computer," he chuckled slightly.

Just then, his phone rang.

"Excuse me, one moment." He pressed the green button on his phone. "Hello? Dean? Oh hey. What did you find out? What? Are you sure? Uh okay. See you later then, bye."

"Sorry, I uh couldn't help but overhear…" Sam looked up to see the waitress was still there. "You sounded a little panicked there. You alright?"

"Oh uh my brother, Dean, just called and told me something…" he said still nervous. "We think you might be in danger."

------------


	5. Blondie

--------------

"What?" she asked alarmed, but also confused as to why he would say that.

"My brother thinks you're in danger," Sam repeated slowly, looking her in the eye.

"Wh-why would he t-think that?" she stuttered.

"You've heard of the killings right, miss?" She nodded. "Well my brother found the connection. All of the places the killings took place in are in a pattern. We think the diner will be the next."

She woman put the objects she was holding down on the desk and went to sit in the booth.

"Are you the cops or something?" she asked.

"No, just people who know stuff about these things," he said lightly with a smile.

She nodded. "But why would you think it's me though? I mean, I'm not the only person in this diner."

Sam told her that not only were the locations in a pattern, he told her that all the victims were blondes.

"…and it just so happens that you're the only blonde female in here." Sam finished with a look of sadness. A look of shock crossed the woman's face. Seeing this, Sam replied, "But don't worry, we won't let you get killed alright?"

She nodded again, squeezing his hand in hers.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name," she said a little shyly. "I'm Amanda. Amanda Durante."

"Hey Amanda, my name's M…" Sam would have normally lied about his name since they were wanted by the police, but he couldn't bring himself to lie to her. "My name's Sam Winchester."

--------------------------

Stalking out of the bushes, the man with silvery eyes strode up to the side of the diner. Looking around to make sure no one was watching, it inconspicuously made its way to a window and peered in.

It stayed there and kept an eye on its new victim.

----------------------------------

"So what exactly do you think is going to attack me? A wolf? Some crazy serial killer?" Amanda asked with a laugh, leaning back in her seat nonchalantly.

Seeing her smile, Sam responded with a laugh of his own. "Well, unless you know of a wolf who knows how to use a map or a serial killer who turns his victims to mush, I'd say no."

Leaning across the table she played with the front of Sam's jacket. "Well if it isn't that then…what is it?"

Hey eyes had a playful glint in them, and Sam couldn't help but feel glad that she was handling the situation so well. Most people would freak out if they found out they were being targeted by some freak.

"Well, you're probably not going to believe this but uh…I'll tell you anyway. Just promise you won't kick me out or…hit me with something," he tried to bargain. Hey, it's not like it hasn't happened before…

She nodded and paid her full attention to the man before her.

The next 15 minutes were spent with Sam explaining what was killing these people, and what he, his brother and their friend really do. Amanda was unconvinced at first but in the end, she could tell he was telling the truth.

"Wow…" Sam started with a chuckle. "That is the first time I have gone through that story without being called crazy." He shook his head and smiled, bangs falling in front of his eyes and making him look adorable.

Amanda laughed at that. "Well, you seem pretty normal to me Winchester."

"Thank you. You're the first person to ever say that. Even my brother thinks I'm alien or something," he grinned.

As Amanda replied, Sam took in her appearance fully for the first time. She had beautiful brown eyes, blonde hair and a great smile that could light up the darkest of rooms. (**A/N: Think Jamie in Monster Movie) **It was then that Sam realised how much he liked her. It was a shame that they would have to leave as soon as the hunt was over.

A hand rapidly moving across his face brought him from his thoughts.

"Muh?" he asked confused at what was happening. Shaking his head and coming back down to earth he replied properly. "What?"

"Nothing," Amanda laughed. "You just zoned out on me."

"Oh sorry," he said embarrassed. He hoped he didn't miss anything important.

She giggled. "It's okay."

Sam nodded in thanks.

"So do you know when this…Kathra thing's going to attack?" She asked, changing the subject completely.

It took a few seconds for Sam to reply, as he was caught off guard. "Uh…not really. But we think some time today since the other three happened today as well."

"Okay then. Do you know how to get rid of this thing? You're not just going to run around in circles from it are you?" she asked with a hint of sarcasm.

Sam lost it and started laughing loudly, drawing attention to him from the other people in the diner. Realising what he had done, he quietened down and whispered a small 'sorry'.

"I think we've been doing this long enough to not run around in circles, don't you think?" Amanda giggled and nodded. "I'm waiting for a call right now. Our friend that was with us the other day, Grace, is doing some research in the library."

As if on cue, Sam's phone started ringing.

"Hello?" he asked into the phone.

"_Hey Sam. I got some info on this thing. We gotta kill it with a silver blade."_

"Silver blade? Got plenty. We'll manage."

"_Uhh not really. I found out that only I can kill it. You and Dean will do nothing against it." _

"What, why?" Sam asked, eyebrows furrowing together in confusion and worry.

"_Because only a female can kill it. And while I have my doubts about you and Dean, that means only I can do it."_

"Great, thanks Grace. Ha ha. Anyways, Dean found out that the waitress from this morning, Amanda, will be the next victim. Any clue on where this thing is living?"

"_I have three possible locations Sammich. I guess we'll be searching all of them."_

"Maybe not. I don't think we have that much time." Pulling the phone away from his ear for a moment, Sam asked Amanda if they had any maps around here. She nodded and went to the counter to fetch one. "Alright, I think I got something."

"_What Sammy?"_

"I've got a map with me right now. I'm plotting all these places down for future reference."

"_Good one Sam._ _Exactly what I did."_

Taking a pen from his jacket, Sam circled all four places where the killings happened, or were planned to happen.

"Hey Grace, mind telling me those three places?"

"_Yeah sure thing."_

Listening to Grace over the phone, Sam was able to plot all three locations on the map.

"Thanks Grace. I'll call you back later."

Looking over the map, Sam was able to figure out which one of the three were the Kathra's lair.

"Alright, looks like we'll be going into the Wildlife Park." he announced.

"What how do you know?" Amanda asked, leaning over to have a look at the map.

"Well with the three places Grace gave me, one of them, the Wildlife park, is in the centre of the "square" we found earlier."

"Aren't you a smart fella," Amanda said with a grin, going over to give him a big hug. Sam laughed and pulled her over to sit on his lap, earning a small squeal and giggle from her.

--------------------------

The Kathra was still leaning against the window, lurking in the shadows the nearby trees cast.

Sniffing the air, it smelt the scent of the blonde woman not so far away.

Seeing there weren't too many people around, it decided now would be the time to strike.

------------------------------------

"Don't poke me, Winchester. Sam!" Amanda scolded.

She was still situated on the tall man's lap, and was squirming around from Sam's constant pokes and tickles.

A bell at the door notified everyone that there was a new customer but Sam and Amanda took no notice.

"Sam, please stop!" she squealed. "I'm really ticklish, please!"

A man strode slowly over to their table and stood by it.

Sam noticed and stopped his playful administrations.

"Can I help you?" he asked darkly, and now very aware of his surroundings.

"May I talk to the woman?" he asked, head down. "Alone?"

Sam looked to Amanda to see if she recognised him, to which she shook her head no.

"May I ask who you are and want you want with her?" Pushing Amanda off his lap, he placed her into the far side of the booth, away from the strange man.

Lifting his head, Sam saw the swirl of his silver eyes and the sadistic smirk planted on his face. Sam's eyes widened as he pulled Amanda out of her seat and they made a run for the back door.

The Kathra hissed and chased after them, knocking several tables and chairs over in the process.

"Come on Amanda, hurry!" Sam yelled as he pushed her threw the doors and followed quickly. "We gotta get up to the front."

"Sam, where are we going to go? We don't have a car!" she screamed in panic.

Eyes darting around as he ran, Sam spotted a familiar spot of black coming closer to them.

"Dean."

Amanda looked up and saw that the man from yesterday was driving a black car towards them.

"Hurry up get in!" he yelled from inside.

Amanda dove into the backseat first, and Sam barely closed the door in time before the Kathra came running and scratched the car, along with a piece of Sam's shirt.

"Man…not the car!!!!" Dean whined as he drove away, leaving the Kathra in its dust.

---------------------

Grace walked out of the library and called Dean.

"Dean, can you pick me up? Kind of stranded right now," she laughed.

"_Yeah, I'll be there soon. We just got the Kathra off our ass."_

"Okay, see you then."

About two minutes later, the impala came zooming towards the entrance where Grace hopped in the passenger seat, as Sam and Amanda were in the back.

Dean drove them all back to the motel room where they'd be safe.

-------------------

"I don't think my heart's ever beaten faster," Amanda exclaimed as she leaned against the table in the room.

"Welcome to our world," Grace stated smiling.

"Yeah, she's right." Sam laughed.

"Okay so Dean, those two already know," she said as she gestured to Sam and Amanda, "but while I was at the library I found out that **I **have to kill you thing with a silver blade," she finished making sure she put a stress on the word 'I'.

"You? Why you?" Dean asked, puzzled.

This led onto Grace explaining the whole story to Dean on why only a female could kill a Kathra.

"So yeah…I have to do it since last time I check, you and Sam aren't chicks."

"This plan sucks," Dean sighed as he plopped down on his bed. "And are you so sure Sam's not a chick? …he sure acts like it sometimes." His last comment earnt him a glare from Sam, and giggles from the girls.

"Exactly what I said." Grace said but stopped when she saw Sam's glare was now directed at her. Putting her hands up in a surrender position, she walked over to where Dean was laying and joined him.

"Whatever guys. I feel absolutely great," Sam said, sarcasm dripping from every word. He and Amanda now sat on the other bed, Sam's left arm draped across her shoulder.

"We're gonna head in for the kill tonight. We'll look a little suspicious if we go prowling a park in the daylight." Dean said.

Grace laughed. "I remember we did that when we were younger. Pretending there was a monster in the bush and everything." Sam smiled at the memory. Too bad the monsters now were real.

The four geared up with their silver knives and waited until sundown.

------------------------

The Kathra stalked around his lair, devising a plan to get the blonde woman. He was disappointed there were two men protecting her. _Too bad they can't kill me._

Looking up at the shining moon that cast shadows along the cave walls, he ventured deeper inside and waited for the opportunity to have the girl alone.

-----------------

Parking the car along the curb, the four jumped out. Yes Amanda was there since they didn't want to risk leaving her alone in the motel room.

All four were equipped with silver blades, even though the boys couldn't do anything. It didn't hurt to have back ups.

Jumping over the low gates used to stop cars from entering uninvited, they slowly made their way up the driveway and onto a track.

"Shh…we gotta be quiet okay?" Dean said. The other three nodded as they made their way through the forest of trees, making sure not to step on any dry leaves or anything else which would reveal their whereabouts and presence to the creature.

Splitting up in twos, they stood flat against the walls of the entrance. Sam and Amanda on the left, Grace and Dean on the right.

"On three…" Dean directed. "One, two, three."

On three, all four moved into the caves silently, walking with their backs along the walls. Using their hands, they guided themselves into the depths of darkness where the Kathra stood unaware.

Out of nowhere, Sam sprung out from the shadows and pounced on the creature, hoping to hold it so Grace would be able to stab it without trouble.

That plan quickly went down the drain as the Kathra used the momentum to flip Sam over its shoulder and onto floor. Sam landed and rolled over, hitting the walls, nearly knocking him out. He was still conscious but a little out of it.

While the girls stayed in the shadows, Dean ran into the Kathra, knocking it to the ground. Dean hit it in the face several times, the creature doing the same.

Landing a right hook on its jaw, the Kathra retaliated and kicked Dean onto the floor with its feet, also knocking him out against the walls.

Moving in, Grace crept over to it, hoping to be able to catch it off guard, but it suddenly stood up, teeth bared at her.

Amanda still his in the shadows, as she knew she couldn't do anything. She didn't know how to fight, let alone go up against this monstrous beast.

Grace pulled out the blade from behind her and went to stab in down on its heart, but the Kathra caught her wrist in the process and began pushing it up to her own.

Both tried to push it in the other's chest but after lots of struggling, the Kathra hissed and knocked the knife onto the floor on the other side of the room.

Grace now lay, on the floor, weaponless. The Kathra walked towards her as she backed up against the wall.

Eyes now shimmering brightly, the Kathra's long claws reached up, ready to impale in her chest when a sharp sensation ran through its body.

Lurching forward at the impact, the creature looked down at its chest to see a long silver blade, buried in its chest.

The life in its eyes died down to a dim grey, as it collapsed onto its knees and fell forward against Grace, dead.

Looking up, Grace saw Amanda in front of her, breathing heavily.

"Hey, you okay?" Amanda asked, pulling Grace up by the hand.

"I'm fine. Thanks for saving me," she smiled. Amanda nodded.

"Looks like our guys our out," Amanda pointed out with a chuckle. Looking to her left, Grace saw that Amanda was right. Sam was slumped over on the floor, while Dean was completely knocked out and had a few bruises covering his face.

"Look like we have some work to do," said Grace, rolling up her sleeves.

They were able to wake Sam up with a little pushing and shoving, and together, they carried Dean out to the impala.

"Shit." Sam leaned backwards onto the impala as he caught his breath. "Dean better stop eating so many cheeseburgers and start losing weight."

The girls both laughed softly as they too, started breathing normally.

"Guess we should head back now, huh?" The girls nodded and they put Dean in the backseat along with Grace, while Amanda sat in the passenger with Sam driving.

-----------------------------------

Arriving at the motel, they once again carried Dean in and set him on the bed.

They decided Amanda would stay at their room tonight, and they would take her home tomorrow morning.

"I guess I'll be sleeping in your bed then," Amanda realised.

Sam nodded. "I promise I won't grope," he laughed. "Not like Dean."

"Don't worry Sam. I know you won't." She climbed into bed, still fully clothed as she didn't have anything else to wear.

She snuggles into Sam's warmth and they both fell asleep.

On the other bed, Grace had just finished tending to Dean's scratches and she too, lay in Dean's arms asleep.

-------------------

The next morning, all four were awake and good to go.

Dean had recovered from his injuries and Amanda was all ready to leave. Thing was, Sam didn't really want her to.

With their bags packed and in the trunk, Dean and Grace waited in the impala while Sam and Amanda said their goodbyes.

"So, I guess this is goodbye," Amanda said softly, looking down at her shoes.

"Yeah…" Sam was gazing into the distance behind her, upset he would have to leave. He really did like her.

"Don't worry Sam. I enjoyed the time we did spend together. There's nothing we can do. You have to go and I have to stay."

A moment of silence went between the two before Sam spoke up.

"Amanda, do you want to come with us?"

--------------------------


	6. Hunting lessons

---------------------

"What?" Amanda asked, surprised at the offer.

"I said would you like to come with us?" Sam was smiling in hope that she would say yes and she couldn't bring herself to say no to the man. Even though she had only known him for a day, she knew that he was an amazing person and that she liked him.

"Okay, I'll go." Sam's eyes lit up as he lifted her up and hugged her. "But what about the fact that I can't hunt Sam? I mean, don't you think I'll die or something?" she laughed.

"Don't worry, we'll teach you."

With a final hug, Sam led her to the impala where he pushed her into the backseat.

"Hey, don't push me!" she yelled at the same time as Dean yelled, "Watch the leather!"

Sam and Grace both rolled their eyes as he shut the door.

"So where do you live Amanda?" Dean asked, getting ready to take her back.

"She's coming with us Dean," Sam said.

"What?" Dean, as you can see, was surprised. "She's coming?"

Sam nodded as Grace looked completely normal. "You can't tell me you didn't see it coming Dean?" No answer. "You're so thick." Everyone laughed at him. "So you're telling me you didn't see the mind shattering attraction between those two? Holy crap."

Dean rolled his eyes at Grace and ignored her, driving away to their next destination. A new town. A new hunt.

--------------

Pulling up to yet another motel, in New Mexico, Sam ran into get two adjoining rooms with two queen beds each.

They probably wouldn't sleep in separate beds anyway, but it didn't help to get them just in case.

Being in their rooms again, all four were able to change into new clothes.

Dean was wearing a grey undershirt and a black long-sleeved button up on top with his blue jeans and black biker boots on.

Sam wore a blue short sleeved t-shirt which showed off his muscles **(A/N: Think ELAC!) **with blue jeans, and a pair of brown boots.

Grace wore fitted blue jeans, with a tight, red V-neck top, while Amanda wore the same blue jeans but with a small, black t-shirt.

Both the motel rooms were similar. There were two queen beds along the walls where the rooms where joined, two dressers placed on the side of the beds.

There was a dresser on the left wall by the window, an average sized television with it.

In the middle of the room was a big table where they placed all their belongings and finally on the right was a pretty nice and clean bathroom.

Today the trio would be teaching Amanda the basics of hunting. Before she learnt about the creatures and even thought about touching a weapon, they would be teaching her self defence and how to fight.

They were now in Amanda and Sam's room as it wasn't cluttered with their arsenal of weaponry, and they had all the tables and beds pushed off to the side for more fighting space.

Grace would be teaching Amanda, as the boys didn't want to scare her by being much bigger and stronger.

"Okay, so I'm going to teach you a block. I'm going to go in for a punch and you'll either catch my fist, wrist or block it with your arm, okay?" Amanda nodded nervously.

Grace swung her arm at Amanda's face and she was able to catch her wrist before it slammed into her.

"Good," she praised. "Another one."

This time, Grace swung from underneath, aiming for Amanda's chest, and luckily she was able to bring her left arm up to block the swing.

The third time, Amanda blocked it by catching the easy punch in her hand and throwing it back at Grace.

"That's great Amanda." Grace and the boys had quickly learnt that Amanda was a fast learner. Only having to demonstrate the blocks once, Amanda was able to use them successfully.

"You girls want to try some attack now?" Dean asked from his bed.

Amanda nodded as they got into a fighting stance.

"Okay so when I charge at you Amanda, I want you to use the momentum against me." Grace didn't dwell on what she meant and decided it was best to see what Amanda would do.

Running forward, hands out-stretched, Grace ran to push Amanda onto the floor when Amanda's hands reached out, grabbed hers and swung her around to hit the wall with a thud.

"That's great Amanda. I don't think we need to teach this girl," Grace laughed. "She knows what she's doing."

Deciding to test Amanda once more after getting up and onto her feet, Grace pounced on her, and straddled her waist.

She sat and waited to see what Amanda would do. Surprisingly, Amanda got some momentum going and rolled them both over so she was now on top.

Sam and Dean cheered from their beds, glad to know Amanda's fighting skills were going so well. The next few hours were spent with both girls fighting each other and Amanda learning new moves as they went along.

-------------------------------------

Flopping down onto their beds, spent, Grace and Amanda lay down to catch their breaths.

Fighting had taken a lot out of them so it was only natural for them to be worn out and tired.

"Looks like you two could use some rest," Dean pointed out, closing the book in his hand. Getting up, he gestured to Sam that they should leave the room.

Seeing the girls in their current state, Sam nodded and hopped off the bed, giving Amanda a small kiss on her cheek before disappearing into his and Amanda's room.

"Fuck, I am sooo tired." Amanda sighed. "Is it always like this?" Seeing Grace's nod, she groaned loudly and rolled over facedown into her pillow.

"Well I'm going to get a shower. Don't think I feel like sleeping." Grace stood up from her bed, slightly unsteady on her feet after getting up so suddenly, and trudged over to her duffle.

Pulling out a clean towel and some comfortable clothes, she walked into the shower and locked the door.

Taking off her clothes, Grace stepped into the now warm water, and let it stream on her hair and down her body.

Rubbing soap suds all over herself, she cleaned while having the water relax her muscles. She moaned at having them loosened up and rested her head on the tiled walls.

Not hearing someone enter the bathroom, Grace kept her back towards to door and jumped in surprise when a pair of arms wrapped around her waist.

Turning her head sideways, she realised it was Dean and relaxed, not even caring that she was completely naked in front of him.

"Hey…" Dean buried his face in the crook of her shoulder and breathed the scent of her in. He held her tighter around the waist and pulled her body flush against his.

"Hey yourself," Grace replied, eyes only half open.

The shower was spent with Dean helping her wash and her doing the same, each stealing kisses here and there between cleans.

"Mmmm…" Dean grumbled. "Do we have to get out? So warm…" Dean snuggled up against her as Grace rested her head against his chest.

Grace nodded. "Sorry babe. I don't think it's fair the rest of the nation is trying to conserve water and energy while we're standing here and undoing all of their hard work." She turned and rubbed her hands up and down his toned chest. "No matter how amazing this is."

Turning off the hot water, and then the cold, Grace stepped onto the fluffy blue mat the motel had provided before grabbing a towel and wrapping it around herself.

Moments later, Dean did the same.

Grace was now out of her previous attire and was wearing a pair of red boy shorts and white tank top, both of which Dean had taken a liking to.

"You know, I gotta say…" Grace turned to face Dean and arched and eyebrow up in question. "Aren't you proud of yourself for not totally jumping me while we were in the shower? I mean…you did have the hottest guy in the world _naked_ against you."

Grace rolled her eyes at the smug look on Dean's face and her only response was her walking out the door, leaving Dean once again behind.

Dean groaned in frustration and banged his head on the wall. _Oww, maybe I shouldn't have done that,_ he thought as he rubbed his now sore forehead with the palm of his right hand.

------------------------

Amanda got up upon noticing Dean's arrival in the room. Seeing him take off his shirt and pants, leaving him in only his boxers and undershirt, she left the room hoping to give him and Grace some much needed alone time.

Slinking into the next room and shutting the door, she crawled up onto Sam's bed and snuggled into his side.

"Hey you," he said smiling, putting his laptop down beside him. "You okay?"

Amanda nodded and stayed in his arms. She lay there thinking how lucky she was to have a great guy like Sam, even if she did have to run around the country killing monsters and other evil things. Looking up at him, she knew it was all worth it.

"I'm absolutely great." Propping herself up on her elbows she reached up and gave Sam a long hard kiss on the lips which he immediately responded to.

While they were _ahem_ participating in activities, they heard Grace giggle in the shower with Dean, so all was well, for now.

---------------------------------

"RAWRR!"

Dean jumped back in surprise as a loud roar startled him while coming out of the shower. He wasn't sure if he had screamed, but he sure hoped not.

Looking around the room for the source of the noise, his eyes finally landing on a very happy and chipper looking Grace who was bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.

Eyeing her carefully, Dean made his way to his bed and cautiously lay down, still watching her.

"What's up with you?" he asked confused at her sudden hyperness.

Grace didn't answer as she started running around the room in circles, flapping her arms like a bird.

"WOOOOOOOO! WOOP! WOOP!"

Dean quickly sat up and ran into Sam's room, not caring that he was interrupting something.

"Uhh...I need help guys."

Ushering Sam and Amanda who were still in an under state of dress into his room, he pushed them in front of him so they could see Grace running around, pretending to be an aeroplane.

Dean stood looking confused, while Amanda just looked downright amused at her friend's behaviour.

Seeing Amanda would be no help, Dean turned to look at his brother who didn't seem to be freaking out about the situation.

"What's wrong with you man?" Dean asked panicking as he shook Sam's arm rapidly. "How come you're not freaking out or something?!"

Sam laughed and looked over to one of the dressers in the room.

Dean followed his gaze and his eyes landed on a big steaming cup of coffee.

"Dear god," he sighed. _Facepalm._ "How the hell did she get coffee?!"

Sam laughed, shaking his head as he and Amanda both made fun of Dean's confused face at Grace.

"You know she's not supposed to drink coffee Dean. Well, too much of it anyway. You know she gets hyper," Sam told him, gesturing to Grace who was now running around like a train.

"Thomas the tank engine…WOOP! WOOP!"

Sam and Amanda left to return to their room, leaving poor Dean by himself.

"This is going to be a long day."

--------------------------------

"Gracie, honey…you wanna calm down for me?"

It had been an hour later and since then, Dean had tried everything he could to get Grace to calm down.

She was currently armed with a pillow and had Dean's head programmed into hers as the target.

Dean was now standing on his bed, holding his hands up in front of himself in a way to alert her that he wasn't going to attack.

So far, his plan wasn't going so well.

"I'll give you a massage?" Dean said, not knowing what else would work.

Grace thought about it for a second, and dropped the pillow and nodded, climbing onto the bed.

_Crap. I don't know how to massage someone…_

Dean awkwardly sat down on the bed and straddled Grace's back which was now facing up towards the ceiling.

Placing his two hands on her shoulders and clamping them down together, he began squishing the skin in between together elicting a moan from Grace.

Satisfied with the response, he continued as she slowly began to relax and…unhypernate.

Twenty minutes of solid massaging has his fingers a little cramped up but Grace has finally fallen asleep, making the massage worth it.

Getting up and off her back, Dean made his way across the room as quietly as he could, hoping to slip into Sam's without disturbing her.

Unfortunately, while keeping a lookout on Grace, he overlooked the duffel bag that was protruding from under the table and tripped on it, landing with a loud thud.

Suddenly, Grace jumped up and, assessing her surroundings, was now back to her hyper self.

Dean groaned loudly and lightly banged his head on the table repeatedly. "Not again."

----------------

Hearing the commotion from next door, Sam opened the conjoining door and was met with an amusing sight.

Dean sat on the flooring, moaning and bitching about how _it wasn't worth it_, while Grace was bouncing up and down on her bed screaming.

"Holy crap."

Feeling a little sorry for Dean's mishap, and for the effort his brother had at least tried to put in, Sam made his way over to the bed Grace was occupying and picked her up.

Being so tall it was no task, so he set her down on her bottom.

"Hey sweetie, I think you should calm down. You've had a lot of sugar and caffeine today," he explained, tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear. "Dean over there's really tired, so you think you could give him a little break?" he asked softly. She looked over at the tired man in front of her and nodded.

Walking to the door, and tapping Dean on the shoulder as he went by, he once again left.

Dean looked up from his knees to see a very calm and normal Grace sitting at the desk, looking at him.

Getting up he walked over and gave her a small hug.

"Thank god you're normal now. I don't think I can handle a hyper version of you," he laughed. Grace smiled and playfully punched him in the shoulder. "I'll teach you to punch me, woman!"

Dean lifted her up into the air as she squealed with laughter. Dropping her onto his bed, he flopped down on top of her and kissed her softly, her giggling beneath him.

"Think we should sleep?" he asked, tangling his hands in her hair.

"I think we should sleep," she replied cutely, leaning into his warm embrace.

------------------------------

Not very long later, Dean and Grace had awoken while Sam and Amanda were next door doing who knew what.

Getting up from the bed, Dean proceeded to poke at Grace like she had done with him earlier.

_Poke. Poke. Poke._

Grace rolled over and growled.

Dean chuckled. "Sweetie, did you just growl?"

Sitting up, Grace stared at Dean with an evil glare that would have made Hannibal Lector go running.

"Yes I did," she deadpanned, still glaring at him.

"I uh, I'm going into the next room," he said quickly, pointing to Sam and Amanda's room and running away, slamming the door behind him.

"Ugh, why Dean. Why couldn't I have fallen for a nice and normal gentleman like Sammy," she groaned.

Standing up on her feet, Grace trudged over to the door, wrenching it open with tired eyes blinking.

"Nice of you to join us," Sam greeted, all cheery. _Gee, wonder what happened to make him ditch his usually moody attitude._

"Humph," she breathed out, still not very aware of what she was doing or where she was.

Landing with a thud on Dean's lap, she lay down and rested her head on him.

"Hey," Dean said softly, stroking her soft hair. In response, she mewled and snuggled closer to him in his lap.

"Since Amanda did so well with the weapons today, I think we should get her started with some weapon training," Sam suggested, looking up at them from the other bed, where Amanda was also perched in his lap.

"Yeah, guess so," Dean said, softly lifting Grace's head from his lap and walking over to the duffel filled with weapons.

Dropping it on Sam's bed, he walked back to join Grace, placing her back in her earlier position.

"Alright, so this is one of our guns," Sam said raising a 1911 colt in front of his face. "Dean will show you how to clean, take apart and reassemble it later on. Right now, I'll take you out to a clearing for you to do a few practise shots alright?" She nodded. "Okay, come on then," he said, taking her hand and leading her outside.

------------------------

This action left Grace and Dean alone in the motel room. Being in a relaxed and calm state, Grace decided it was time for her to have a little talk with Dean.

"Dean?" she asked softly, so soft she wasn't sure he could here her.

He did. "Yeah, what's up Grace?" he replied equally soft.

"Where are we?" she looked up to him. "Are we you know…like…" Grace blushed and looked around awkwardly as if not wanting to finish the sentence.

Luckily Dean knew what she was talking about. "You mean, are we together?" he asked with a small smile. Seeing her continue blushing, he replied, "Do you want us to be?"

Seeing the corner of her lips tug up slightly, he smiled, knowing the answer was yes. But he wanted to hear her say it.

"Do you want us to be together? I'll give it a go if you want to."

"Yeah Dean, I want us to be together." Grace got up on her knees and gave Dean the biggest hug, followed by a kiss. Hearing Dean say he was willing to give a relationship a go meant absolutely everything to her.

"Alrighty then," Dean said, pleased with the attention he was getting. Boy, if this is what being a boyfriend meant, he loved it already. "We have a couple hours to ourselves…" he suggested, running a finger up and down her forearm.

Grace laughed at him and swatted his hand away, rolling over.

"Oh fine, be that way," he pouted playfully. "You're getting it." With that, Dean's hands darted out towards her waist and began mercifully tickling her.

She laughed and squirmed around screaming, begging him to stop. Of course, him being Dean, he wouldn't.

"Crap, Dean, oh god, please!" She continued squealing and wriggling around until Dean relented and let her have a break.

_Eh…he would get her back later._

_---------------------------------_

Pulling up in a path which led to a forest clearing, Sam and Grace closed the impala doors with a soft slam and made their way to it, duffel and sandbags in hand.

Stringing the sandbags off a couple of branches, low and high, Sam walked over to where Amanda was waiting.

"Okay so how do you think you should hold a gun?" Sam asked handing her one from his bag, which was obviously still left on safety.

Pulling her legs apart a little and bending her arms slightly, she held them in front of her, arms forming an upside down V shape.

"Perfect." Sam didn't need to correct her stance as it was perfect. She had her elbows bent and legs apart so that when she pulled the trigger, she wouldn't go flying back with the recoil.

Standing behind her, he directed her to take the gun off safety and shoot one of the sandbags that was at her eye level.

Amanda stood and aimed at the bag, pulling the trigger and sending a bullet flying into the air. Unfortunately she missed.

"Here, let me help you." Sam walked to stand behind her, hands holding the gun over hers.

Being taller than her, it was a little tricky, but he was able to manage since her was a pro. He aimed the gun at the bag and got it ready for her to fire.

"Alright, shoot." Amanda did as she was told and this time, hit the target.

"I hit it!" she squealed with delight, clapping her hands together. "Even though I only pulled the trigger," she smiled.

"Okay try it again, alright. Make sure you keep and eye on the target right up to the moment you pull the trigger." Amanda nodded and took a shooting stance, once more. She looked at another sandbag which was at eye level and made sure her gun was in line with it. Slowly pulling the trigger, she was ecstatic to hearing an exploding sound. She had hit it.

"YES!" she screamed, causing poor Sam to jump back in shock. "I hit it! By myself this time!"

Sam walked up to her, and lifted her up into a hug.

"Good job honey."

----------------------------

"You're not going to tickle me again are you?" Grace asked, dead serious. Dean's fingers were deadly. While she could imagine some much nicer things they could do to her, she was terrified of them when it came to tickling.

"Maybe." _Oh that prick was enjoying it!_

"You better not. I'll make you sleep on the floor," she taunted, sticking her tongue out at him.

"You do remember we have two beds right?" he said, smiling that he had gotten one over her.

"And you do remember I can be mischievous and pour water all over it so you can't sleep on it?" Grace shot back.

Hearing no reply from Dean but a mumble, she smiled in self satisfaction and turned away from him.

---------------------------

"So we'll try the other bags now, okay?"

For the last half hour, Amanda had been practising on the many eye-level sandbags Sam and placed up and added. With a bit of help from Sam time to time, Amanda had now been able to hit every single one dead on, making Sam very proud of her. Once again, she was a very fast learner.

"Okay Sam." Amanda walked over to where Sam now was and attempting shooting the bags that were high up on branches and bags that hung low near the ground.

_Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang._

"Four out of five Amanda. Not bad," he smiled at her. "Not bad at all."

Amanda smiled that she had picked up on shooting so easily. She was afraid she would miss every single shot and make Sam disappointed.

"Did you want to try with the knives now?" Sam asked, walking towards her, bowie knife in hand.

Amanda nodded and took it from him, handle first. **(A/N: There's a name for this handle but my brain is dying and I can't remember! *stabs*)**

"So uh, what am I doing with this knife? I'm sure I know how to stab something," she laughed.

"Well there is a proper technique for using a knife during combat but we'll do that later. Right now, we'll practise some throwing."

Seeing her nod, he took the knife from her and demonstrated. Holding the handle, he flicked his wrist forward, making the knife spin and hit the tree in front of them with the blade sinking in about an inch deep.

"So just do what I did okay. Hold the handle, flick the wrist sharply so that it spins correctly."

Amanda held the knife, a little nervous, and did as she was told. She held the handle and flicked her wrist forward but let go of the handle a bit too late. The blade had nicked her finger and blood was now running down the side of her right index finger.

"Oww!" she yelped dropping the knife, cradling her injured hand in her other.

Sam quickly ran up to her and examined her now bloody hand.

"Aww sweetie. The cut's deep. Think you might need a stitch or two," he said frowning. "Maybe you weren't ready. Sorry babe."

Amanda shook her head. "No don't be sorry Sam, it's my fault. Should've let go of the damn handle," she said quietly, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. It wasn't anyone's fault alright? It was just an accident. Come on, let's go back to the motel and I'll stitch you up, good as new."

Amanda walked back to the impala where she opened the door and sat, as Sam packed up the equipment, leaving the sandbags there.

--------------------------------------

"Hey, we're back," Sam announced, dropping the duffel bag on the table.

Dean and Grace looked up when they noticed the red that was coating Amanda's finger.

"Shit, what happened?" Dean asked, walking up to them, and looking at Amanda's finger.

"Uh, had an accident with the knife," Sam said briefly, running into the bathroom for the first aid kit.

"Are you alright sweetie?" Grace asked sitting up.

"Yeah I'm fine. Sam says I might need stitches though. We'll have to see after I get all this blood off me," she laughed a little.

Sam came running out of the bathroom a moment later, carrying a white case.

"Here, sit down on the bed."

Walking over and sitting down like she was asked, Amanda held out her finger as Sam began wiping the blood off with a damp cloth.

"Sorry," Sam apologised as she winced.

After cleaning the blood off, Sam took out a small bottle of whiskey to rid of any bacteria or any other nasties to prevent future infections.

"This might sting a bit," Sam told her. Amanda shut her eyes tightly as if it would minimise the pain. Feeling a small sting on her finger and then the texture of the cloth, she opened her eyes with met with a very concerned Sam who was nursing her wound.

Sam took a needle and threaded it with some string. Grabbing a lighter from the box and flicking it on and off the needle for a few seconds, he dipped it into the whiskey and brought Amanda's hand closer to himself.

"I don't have any anaesthetic or anything as you might have noticed so just think of some happy thoughts. Ignore the pain, aright?"

She nodded and Sam began to do the first stitch. Knowing it would be painful, Amanda shut her eyes once more and thought about the first day she met Sam, which seem like only yesterday. Maybe it was because it _was_ only yesterday.

She thought about first seeing him walk through the door and seeing his great smile when she approached him. She thought about the way he hugged her, the way he kissed her, and how well they went together.

Before she knew it, Sam was up and done with her finger, just finishing with the gauze wrap.

"Thanks Sammy." She hugged him tightly.

"No problems," he smiled, returning it. "It'll be good as new in a couple days, a week max."

"Okie dokie."

"Sam, I like her. She says okie dokie," Dean laughed. Sam just simply shook his head at Dean's immature behaviour.

"So while you stay away from using weapons, I guess we should teach you the basics in hunting, right Dean?" Dean nodded.

"Better now than later."

Sitting on the bed with Amanda, he began teaching her the basics.

"Okay, so…" Amanda started, "Salt to repel spirits and salting and burning their remains to get rid of them. If that doesn't work, give them what they want or find some other weird and random way. Christo to recognise demons, holy water to repel them, devil's traps to contain them and exorcisms or the colt to kill them. Silver bullet in the heart for werewolves and shape shifters. Spells for curses, decapitation for vampires and stake in the heart for tricksters," she finished in just one breath.

"Holy crap," Dean breathed out. "That was one long breathe! Have fun Sam, your girlfriend can hold it for ages." Sam blushed and turned away, ignoring his brother.

"Anyways," Sam said changing the subject. "Good work. I think you got the basics down. There are tons more creatures but we don't come across others very much."

"Yeah," Dean chuckled. "I bet you can't wait to learn Latin," he said sarcastically. "Fun."

Looking towards Sam, she looked worried.

"Umm, I think I'll pass if that's alright with you Sam. I think I'll stick to my one language right now…"

Grace just laughed.

"Yeah, Latin's a bit tricky. Damn pronunciations. We'll teach you exorcisms later on when we think you need it, or when you're ready. We'd rather not do it now," she smiled.

It was now near sundown and Sam decided he would go and fetch everyone food. After asking everyone's orders, he snagged Dean's keys to the impala and went out for the closest reasonable looking diner nearby.

"Wait, we're eating food from a diner?" Amanda asked.

"Yeah, sorry, hunting doesn't exactly pay well, you know? We can't exactly cook our own food and everything either," Sam said, feeling a bit guilty for dragging Amanda into this way of life when she had everything she wanted and needed back home.

"I'll survive. I guess I should've expected it then haha," she smiled. This made Sam feel a little better seeing that she wasn't disgusted at the thought of eating take-out every day.

After Sam had left, Grace decided she would crash in her room and watch some TV.

This left Dean with Amanda, and he taught her how to clean, disassemble and reassemble a gun. When he was satisfied she could do it properly, he gave her a hug and praised her on how well she was doing.

In only one day, Amanda had managed to learn how to shoot a gun, how to look after one, and the basics of the nasties they hunted.

When Amanda was all fixed up, they would work on her knife skills and they would be all set for a case.

-------------------


	7. You? Me

_A Week Later_

"Rise and shine, Dean!"

"Fuhhh fff"

"I'm sorry, what was that Dean?" Sam laughed, standing on the side of Dean's bed.

Dean was currently lying face down on the pillow, his right hand under the pillow grasping his knife, and his left thrown over the edge of the bed.

"I said fuck off," Dean said rolling over and swatting Sam in the stomach. "I'll teach you to wake me up in the fucking morning," he glared.

"Yeah, you do that. But of course…you'll have to get up…" he teased.

"Leave him alone Sam," came a feminine voice behind him.

Turning around, he saw Grace in the shorts and tank top she was in yesterday, coming towards him with a small smile on his face.

"You know Deanie doesn't liked to be teased," she joked, climbing onto the bed and straddling Dean's torso, running her fingers through his spiky, brown hair.

He pouted and looked at her like a kid who had just gotten his dog run over.

"Poor baby," she cooed, running her palm down his stubbled cheek.

This motivated Dean to look at her like a kid who had just gotten his dog run over…_on purpose._

"Oh stop pouting sweetie, you'll get wrinkles. And you know once you get them and start looking old, I'll dump you," she teased.

Dean quickly sat up and threw her off the bed frowning.

"Old my ASS! I'll never get old. I'll always be the sexy fella I am today," he grinned triumphantly.

"Whatever." Grace stood up from the floor, rubbing her right butt cheek where she had landed. "Owww…you broke my ass Dean. My pretty, little ass," she pouted just like Dean had a few moments ago.

"Stop pouting babe, you'll get wrinkles," Dean mocked.

Dean's grin faded once a hard block of white engulfed his vision.

"Holy…" Dean cursed. "If you ever break my nose Gracie Lee Alexander, you better watch out!" He pointed at her accusingly and waggled his index finger around.

"Okie dokie." Grace was in a happy mood and wasn't going to let one very moody and egotistical Dean get in the way of that. "Hurry and get up, Dean. Remember the last time you were sleeping?"

Dean nodded slowly, memories flooding back to him. He didn't want to have another "accident". Not today. Not ever. It would have been okay as a little kid, but a fully grown and macho Dean Winchester wetting his pants? I don't think so!

"I'm going, I'm going. Don't get your g-string in a twist," Dean said, turning his body and letting his feet hit the carpeted floor.

Sam and Grace nodded thankfully and made their way back to Sam's room, him holding the door open for her as she walked in.

"Damn morning freaks," he mumbled to himself.

Grabbing random clothes from his duffel, Dean put on a pair of blue jeans, his biker boots and a navy blue t-shirt. It was quite a hot day so he was able to be free from the usual amount of layers, he and Sam wore.

Pushing the adjoining door open, he strode into the room and sat down directly on Grace's lap.

"Oww!" she yelped, jumping up at the sudden weight, therefore making Dean crash to the ground with a loud thud.

"Grace," he bit out angrily.

"Oh god, Dean, I'm so _soo_ sorry!" she apologised quickly. "I didn't mean to make you fall, it's just…you were heavy."

"Oh that reminds me Dean, have you started losing weight yet? I remember carrying your ass out of that cave and boy, _it was heavy," _Sam deadpanned looking totally serious, although on the inside he wanted to burst out laughing at Dean's pathetic he's sure got his expressions down to a fine art.

"Hell no, I do _not _need to lose weight. Gracie still loves me," he pouted, looking down and rubbing his stomach through the material of his shirt.

"Yeah Sammy, Dean's body is awesome," she grinned. "And it's all mine."

Dean automatically wrapped his arms around his waist and began hugging himself. "Mine."

"Mine."

"No mine."

"Dean."

"What?"

"Mine."

"Mine!"

"If your body's yours…then that means my boby's mine, right?"

"Yours…" he sighed.

"What? I'm sorry I didn't catch that."

"My body…it's yours. But that means yours is mine."

"Wait so _my _body is _yours. _So when I talk about the body on me, I say it's yours? Like…I'm touching _your _body, even when…I'm touching mine…"

"Okay wait. Forget it. Our bodies are ours. You can have your body," Dean ended the argument, still hugging himself.

Grace snorted. "Fine. Guess you won't be handling this fine piece of work," she said, getting up and walking over to the table where Sam was, hugging him.

Dean's eyes widened at the comment. "Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, no way. You expect us to go out without me touching you?" he scoffed. "Unbelievable."

"Well I'll let you touch me if you agree that your body is mine," she reasoned, lying back in the seat.

Dean looked away as if to ignore her, but who was he kidding. _Definitely not her_, Grace thought as she smiled.

"Fine…" he sighed. "But that doesn't mean it's yours 24/7. I wouldn't like to have control over my body at least sometimes."

To this, Grace rolled her eyes. Boys.

"Hmmm?" came a quiet voice.

All three turned to look at the bed Amanda was currently occupying. Grace and Dean had been so caught up in their conversation they had totally forgotten Amanda was still in the room and sleeping.

"Oops…" Dean whispered.

"Sorry." Grace smiled sheepishly.

"It's okay," Amanda replied while sitting up.

Sam smiled at the groggy expression on her face. Tearing his eyes from her face Sam laughed at her tussled hair. It was all fluffed up and was sticking up in every direction, as was Dean's.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" Amanda asked in horror, now suddenly very aware of herself.

She touched her face and begun feeling around for anything that could be out of place. This caused all three to laugh at her.

"What?!?! I'm freaking out. Do I have a pimple or something?" All shook their heads. "Have a turned purple? Grown an extra head?"

"Nope," Sam replied.

"What then? Why are you all looking at me strange?" she asked pouting.

Sam walked up to her and sat down on the bed sighing. "Nothing's wrong with you sweetie. You just have bed hair," he smiled, tangling his hand in it.

"Oh…" She smiled and leaned her head into the palm of his hand, closing her eyes. In the week they had stayed at the motel, Amanda's finger was all healed up and god as new like Sam had said it would be. Sam brought her closer and gave her a small kiss on the crown of her head.

"Hey!" Amanda opened her eyes and looked at Grace. "Don't fall asleep!"

Amanda laughed and shook her head at her new friend. She was a little nutty but she loved it. Made usually boring drives fun.

"You wanna go for a run?" Grace asked. "Anyone?" Dean and Amanda shook their heads while Sam nodded.

They always had unhealthy take out, so every once in a while they needed to get out to exercise in the fresh air. It would hopefully compensate for the lack of variety in their diet.

------------------------------------

"God, it's good to get out in the morning," Grace breathed out into the chilly air.

"Yeah, Dean's lazy. He never gets out," Sam replied, panting a little.

They had been running around the block for nearly half and hour now. Grace had changed into sports shorts and kept the tank top, while Sam put on a pair of sweats along with a grey shirt.

"I'm amazed that he can keep such a great body when he hardly exercises," she laughed.

"Oh don't let Dean hear you! His esteem will get damaged."

Grace laughed loudly, throwing her head back into the air.

_Smack._

"Holy crap, are you okay Grace?" a soft voice asked.

"What?" Grace opened her eyes and squinted at the bright light she was met with. She didn't know how long she had been out but she knew she was cradled in Sam's arms. "What happened, Sam?"

Seeing her blinking her eyes up at him he replied scratching the back of his neck, "Uh…you ran into a pole?"

Grace's face changed from being puzzled, to confused, then to embarrassed when the information sunk in.

"I ran into a pole?" she asked in disbelief.

Sure, she used to be a little clumsy when she was around guys in high school, but running into a pole on her morning jog? What the hell?

"Yeah," Sam replied curtly. "Don't worry it's not like you attracted attention…" Grace looked around at the people standing around them. "…much."

Getting up from her position on the floor, Grace dusted herself off and adjusted her clothes.

"Let's go. We should head back," she said, face turning a nice shade of red.

"Yeah, but we should get some breakfast first. You know how Dean is." She nodded.

----------------------------

"So Amanda…how you been?" Dean asked awkwardly, trying to break the silence.

"Uhh fine," she replied, just as awkwardly, twiddling her fingers.

"Okay then…that's…good."

_Silence._

"Err okay, this is very awkward." Dean stated out loud.

"Yeah totally," she replied quickly.

"Sam and Grace better be getting breakfast," he grumbled.

"In the mean time…we're watching tv. None of this awkward silence crap," she responded quickly, and he nodded.

Crawling onto one bed, Dean and Grace situated themselves on it, heads at the foot of the bed.

Grabbing the remote from under the covers after a few minutes of searching, Dean clicked on the tv.

_Click._

_Documentary on baboons and their-_

_Click._

_Barrack Obama winning presidential el-_

_Click._

_Jimmy Grayes, basketball legend, dead after committing suicide._

"Hmm. Shame…he was awesome," Dean frowned.

_Click._

_Oh no…a pimple! A day before the party!_

_Click._

_Some classic cars here today. An original blue '69 Chevelle with white stripes parked at the back there. A red '71 Mustang just to the side. And right here, a beautiful black '67 Chevy Impala._

…

"What, no click?" Amanda asked grinning.

"Hell no."

----------------------

Turning the corner, onto a street full of diners and food joints, Sam and Grace made their way inside _Cal's Diner_ and walked up to the counter, still drenched in sweat from their workout.

"Hey," Sam said out of breath.

"What can I got ya?" a middle-aged lady asked them.

Grace stared at her, not sure she wanted to get any closer. She didn't want the lady's yellow teeth and bad breathe to bacterialise her.

"Can I get four coffees? Three with two sugars and milk, one black. Umm, and four stacks of waffles. Three syrup and one strawberry. Thanks."

"Dining in or eating out?" the woman asked, noisily chewing on what seemed to be gum.

Grace once again stared at her in disgust. The woman's untamed brown hair finally getting to her. It didn't help that the woman's face was covered in a layer of oil. It made Grace wonder whether the woman had dunked her head into the fryer for a second, there was so much.

"Take out," Sam replied upon seeing Grace's stance and expression.

"Comin' right up."

"Okay," Sam replied awkwardly, walking away from the counter and waiting on the side.

"That woman was creepy," Grace whispered in Sam's ear, causing his to laugh softly.

"I know Grace, don't worry, we'll be out of here before you know it," he smiled encouragingly, which she nodded to.

"Order's here," the woman from the counter shouted.

The two walked up to the counter, Grace holding the crate of coffees, and Sam holding the bags full of waffle-filled Styrofoam containers.

"Told you we'd be out of here soon."

-----------------------

"Breakfast!" came a shout from behind the door.

Amanda got up in her jeans and small black t-shirt to open it, while Dean sat, engrossed in the television program.

"Err…Dean. You sure you don't want to marry one of those cars?" Grace asked sarcastically after seeing his eyes practically glued to the screen.

"I'll go find some other guys if you're into…machinery."

"Huh?" Dean's head whipped around. "No, no, it's just that these cars…are soo sexy…and they have such _great_ bodies…so sleek and smooth…beautiful…"

Grace rolled her eyes at Dean's dazed out state. She knew if he carried on any longer he would be drooling.

"Anyways," Sam interrupted. "We got waffles and coffee."

"Yay," Amanda squealed, clapping her hands. "I love waffles!"

Sam chuckled at her and handed Amanda a cup of coffee and a container of strawberry syrup waffles. He then handed two syrup waffles to Dean and Grace, giving Grace a normal coffee and giving Dean black, which left him with a syrup waffle and coffee.

"Yum." Grace dug into her waffles like a wild animal that had gotten their first catch in a month.

"Whoa…" Dean pulled the waffles away from her, Grace still trying to stab at them with her plastic fork. "Slow down babe. You're gonna choke."

"Yeah, says the man who's shovelling them down his throat." Dean stopped mid swallow and looked up at Grace like a kid who had gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Grace rolled her eyes and grabbed the container back, once again eating like a mad woman.

Dean glared at her for a second but quickly returned his attention back to the beautiful waffles in front of him.

"So uh," Sam started in between mouthfuls. "Have we got a case yet? I think Amanda's ready. The only thing we haven't taught her is how to use a knife but she'll be fine. It's not like we use knives that much anyway," he finished, taking another bite.

"Well I haven't heard much. Jimmy Grayes died just to let you know," Dean told him. "Man he was awesome…"

"What?" Sam asked shocked. "He died?"

Amanda leaned into him when she saw the kid-like pout planted on his face and gave him a small peck on the lips. "Better?"

Sam shook his head no and continued pouting.

"Holy crap, what's with all the pouting today, guys?" Amanda asked looking at them strangely. "You're acting like children." She shook her head.

"No we're not," Dean glared playfully, slapping her half-heartedly in the arm.

"Oww…" she pouted.

"Yeah sweetie, look who's pouting now," Sam teased ruffling her hair.

"Shuddup. Leave me alone…" she whined softly leaning away from him.

Sam ignored her cute expression and turned back to Dean. "You know what else sucks?" he paused, leaning forward. "Steven Willcock died yesterday afternoon."

"Dude, you're kidding me. How'd he die?"

"Suicide," he answered sadly.

"First Jimmy, now Steven? What the hell?!" Dean yelled in frustration, throwing his arms into the air.

"Yeah, doesn't make sense. Two sporting legends all of a sudden dying? Something's not right."

"So…you guys wanna drive all the way up to these guys' home town just because some sports guys died?" the girls asked, eyebrows raised in confusion.

"They are not just 'sports guys'," Dean defended. "They're legends." Sam nodded quickly in agreement.

"While I _love_ sports guys…don't you think driving up to Michigan is a bit far? You know…just because they died?" Grace asked. Both boys shook their head.

Amanda sighed. "Looks like we're going to Michigan."

--------------------

"Tsk tsk tsk, don't you even try touching my tape Amanda," Dean warned, slapping her hand away from the radio.

Amanda slunk back in her seat and frowned, crossing her arms.

"Aww…Dean. Turn off your damn mullet rock for a minute won't you?" Sam asked, laying his head on Amanda's jean clad lap facing forward.

Dean shook his head stubbornly. "No way. What else would you possibly want to listen to?"

"Something that can carry a tune…" Sam mumbled quietly so only Amanda, who stifled a laugh, could hear.

"Come on Dean. Turn it off. I'll make it up to you later, I promise," Grace reasoned.

Dean looked on forward for a few seconds before turning to look her in the eye. "Fine." He leant to the right and switched to another station that was playing country music.

The whole drive to Michigan, Dean sat pouting and looked at the radio while Grace kept having to lean over the seat to reassure him.

--------------------------------

"Ohhhhhhhh…" Dean moaned loudly. "Back to classic rock. Back to classic rock."

Sam and Amanda rolled their eyes and made their way inside the bar.

"Better now babe?" Grace asked as she stroked his hair.

"Mhm…" he nodded adorably, which Grace couldn't help but smile to.

"Let's go inside."

Locking the doors to the impala, Dean ran to catch up with Amanda who was already at the door.

He pulled the metal handles and let the black wooden doors open before letting Grace step inside, himself following closely.

"There they are," he pointed towards the direction of which Sam and Amanda were occupying a table.

"Four beers," Sam shouted across the room towards a dark-haired bartender who nodded and put down her rag. Dean watched as she filled up four mugs and walked over, placing them on their desk.

"A little early to be drinking isn't it?" she smiled.

"Nope." Dean held out his hand to pay her and she walked away as she took it.

"Dean," Grace shouted slapping him on the arm. He turned to look at her, confused as to why she hit him. "Stop undressing her with your mind."

"I'm not!" he defended.

"Yeah right Dean," Sam laughed.

"Oh shut up."

"Anyways…you guys," Amanda started, leaning forward onto her elbows. "What exactly are we planning on doing here? Try and gate crash their funerals?"

"Ha ha. No Amanda…" Sam said in a sing-song voice. "We're here because something strange is going on. Both sports legends were rich as. They had everything they wanted. They wouldn't have committed suicide. No way."

Amanda nodded. "So what do you suggest, geek boy?"

Sam glared at his nickname and turned to look at Grace. "We're going to go interview some of their close relatives. See if anything weird's been happening."

"Sounds good to me."

All four raised their beers and clinked them together before drinking.

_A Few Hours Later_

"Alright, I gotta take a leak. You guys go wait in the car," Dean said as he got up from his chair and stalked over to the men's bathroom.

"You heard him, let's go." The three walked outside while Dean did his business.

------------------------------

_Tut tut tut._

Dean clicked his tongue on the top of his palette as he got rid of everything he drank.

A man came up to the urinal beside him and started doing his business while Dean looked away at a far wall. _Awkward._ Of course, Dean wasn't embarrassed but he certainly didn't want to see another guy with his fly undone.

Hearing a zipper, Dean turned back to facing the wall in front of him while the other guy left.

_Creak._

Dean turned around hearing a soft noise and was only met with a cubicle door swinging open.

_It's just the wind Dean. Or maybe someone's using it._

He looked around the bathroom to see there were no windows at all. Or anyone else in the bathroom for that matter.

_Hmm…_

Dean ignored it, shaking his head, and went back to facing the wall.

_Creak._

"Argh what the hell," he groaned, pissed off.

Zipping up his pants, he turned around and walked up to the cubicle which had been swinging open.

He held onto the door and pulled it closed then open to make sure nothing was behind it.

"Pshh…this is stupid." Shaking his head once more, he turned around and walked towards the door.

-------------------------------

"Man, how long does it take for Dean to empty himself?" Sam whined.

Grace coughed and smiled. "Eh…quite a while."

"Oh stop it you two, he's coming." Sam and Grace turned to look out the window in the direction Amanda was looking. True enough, Dean had just walked out of the bar, letting the door slam closed.

"Hey Dean," Grace smiled cheekily, sticking her head out of the window.

Dean laughed at her cuteness and gave her a soft and playful nudge on the back of her head, making her stick her head back inside.

Getting in the driver's seat, Dean turned to face the others.

"Alright so I'm thinking…Sam goes to interview Jimmy. Grace and Amanda interview Steven while I research on the laptop for anything that might help," Dean suggested.

All three nodded so he threw Sam the keys while he popped the trunk for Sam's laptop.

"Look after my baby!!!" Dean yelled while Sam drove away with the girls.

"Don't flirt with the bartender!" Grace yelled back playfully.

Dean smiled as he made his way back inside with the laptop.

Setting it down on the same table they were at before, he flipped the lip on and started the computer, waiting for it to load.

Opening the Google search engine, Dean typed in 'Jimmy Grayes death' and came up with hundreds of hits. Clicking on the first website, Dean began reading about what exactly happened.

-------------------------------

Sam drove himself to Jimmy's dad's house, and grabbed a fake ID from the glove box. Stepping outside and giving Amanda a quick hug and the car keys, Sam got into police mode before knocking on the door.

"Alright, let's go Amanda. Off to Steven's relatives.

Driving themselves away, they parked on the curb at the end of Mr. and Mrs. Willcock's street.

Each grabbing an ID for themselves, they made their way up to the front door of a big two-storey.

"These IDs are awesome," Amanda grinned happily.

"Sure are."

During the week Amanda was injured, Dean had made a couple of fake IDs for Amanda for when she would need them in the future.

"Just let me do the talking alright," Grace said. Amanda nodded.

They had taught Amanda the basics of lying about who she was but she still wasn't ready just yet.

Ringing the doorbell, the pair waited patiently for someone to answer the door.

"Hello may I help you?" The door swung open to reveal a man who appeared to be Mr. Willcock.

"Uh hi," Grace stepped forward. "We are federal agents and we just wanted to ask you a few questions about your son." She and Amanda held up their badges for him to see before the stepped aside and ushered them in.

------------------------------

"Huh. Steven Willcock. Same thing. Absolutely nothing on these guys. Zip. Zilch. Nada." Dean picked up his beer and took another long sip.

Looking up from his beer, he was surprised to see the bartender from earlier come up to him.

"May I help you?" he asked, trying to divert his attention. _Don't flirt with the bartender!_

"Oh, I was just wondering why a handsome young man like you is sitting here all by himself drinking beer," she flirted.

"My friends are out busy, they'll be back soon," he answered.

The bartender leaned forward flirtatiously and Dean has to sit back to avoid getting her breasts in his face.

"My shift's over right now. Mind if I sit?"

Dean bit his lip. _I do have nothing to do… _"No, not at all, please."

She pulled out the chair across from him and sat down, once again leaning forward.

The attractive woman licked her lips and crossed one leg over the other, looking straight at Dean.

He knew what she was trying to do but he couldn't help but keep looking at her. At her soft, full lips.

The next thing he knew, she was sitting on the chair beside him, leaning closer.

"I, uh, think you should…" he started before she put a finger on his lips, shushing him, and he nodded.

------------------------

"Well that was a bust," Grace said, starting up the engine.

Amanda looked at her friend from the passenger seat and answered, "Let's hope Sammy's got something."

Grace nodded and peeled off onto the road, driving to where they had dropped off Sam.

Arriving at the Grayes' street, they spotted Sam sitting on a bench in the park across the road.

"Hey Grace?" Amanda asked.

"Yeah Amanda?" she answered looking at her.

"Could you just drop me off here? I feel like hanging out with Sam for a bit. Pick me up later on?"

Grace nodded in understanding and waited for Amanda's door to shut before driving back to the bar.

Killing the ignition, Grace stepped out and went inside the bar. What she saw shocked her.

Inside, at the table she was sitting at earlier, she saw Dean and the bartender. She saw her sitting on his lap. She saw him stroking his hand up and down her arm. She saw her face incredibly close to his, and both smiling. He saw her nibbling on the corner of Dean's mouth to which he did not oblige to. She saw red.

Anger and hurt welling up inside her, Grace stormed to the desk and threw the bartender to the floor after grabbing her collar.

"What the hell are you doing Dean?!" she shouted swiping the beers off the table and smashing them.

"What? Nothing. Just having a friendly conversation with uh, Emily here," he smirked.

"Oh you were, now were you?" she asked, rage boiling. "From where I was, she was _all _over you. And you did absolutely nothing to stop her. Do you remember what I said to you a week ago? Or hell, an hour ago?!?!"

"What? I didn't hear anything." Grace was furious as she kicked over his table and slapped him hard in the face, jerking it sidewards.

Readjusting the position of it, Dean looked at her dead-on.

"You said you wanted to give this…relationship a go," she yelled having trouble finding her words. "Just moments earlier I said, **DON'T FLIRT WITH THE BARTENDER.**"

"Must've thought you had some competition if you thought you had to warn your boy," the bartender smirked, standing up from where she was on the ground.

Grace put her back down by kicking her in the face, subsequently knocking her out.

"What did you do that for Grace?!" Dean yelled.

"What?" she shrugged. "That girl was a bitch."

"What do you say we finish this in the motel room, huh? Where people won't hear us."

Grace looked around to see everyone in the bar staring at them. They had obviously attracted a crowd.

Walking off with Dean to the impala, they left the bar where overlooking drinkers were helping the slutty bartender off the floor.

------------------------

Grace slammed the motel room loudly.

"So Dean, tell me, what exactly do you think you were doing with her?" she asked as soon as she got through the door.

"I told you. We were just talking."

"And I don't suppose you call her kissing you talking, now do you?!" she screamed, throwing pillows at him of which he dodged.

"Why would I stop? She's beautiful. I mean did you see that rack?" he breathed out.

Grace stared on, shocked at Dean's behaviour.

"Well does that mean if I see a hot guy walking down the street, I'm allowed to kiss him?!"

Dean shrugged and lifted his eyebrows. _Yes._

"Dean. You're an asshole you know that. A conniving, heartless and cruel assho-"

Grace was suddenly met with a stinging sensation and landed on the floor with a thud.

She looked up to see Dean standing before her, hand raised.

Dean had hit her. _Her_ Dean had hit her.

Still sitting on the floor where Dean had left her, he walked over to the light switched and flipped it on.

For a second, Grace saw a flicker in his eyes when he turned to look at her sadistically.

"Shapeshifter…" she whispered ever so softly.

--------------------------------


	8. Getting my baby back

Tied up

"Aww…what's wrong sweetie? Not afraid of me are you?" the shapeshifter asked, inching closer to Grace who was crawling backwards on all fours.

"Get away from me you freak," she spat out, looking around the room for any means of escape.

"Tsk tsk tsk…such bad language…" it said as it got in front of Grace and kicked her in the stomach.

Grace felt the air in her lungs escape through her mouth as the heavy boot collided with her.

"Where's Dean?" she demanded harshly, grasping her stomach.

"Somewhere…he could be here, out in a ditch somewhere, maybe dead?" it shrugged dismissively, walking away.

Grace lunged at it. "You better hope he's okay," she threatened, grabbing the shifter around the neck. "Or I swear to god, I will kill you."

It easily plucked her off and threw her into the table, making it fall and crash into many pieces.

"Fuck!" she yelled in pain, rolling off the wood to take the pressure off of her now injured back.

"Oh dear…didn't your mother ever teach you any manners?" it mocked. "Oh wait…she's dead. Your daddy too by the looks of it."

Grace choked back a sob as she stood up, ready to fight.

"Come on," she said with determination. "Come and get me."

The shapeshifter smiled wickedly and ran for her. It punched her in the face, sending her sprawling on the floor, but she never gave up.

Grace kicked down her feet, jumping up quickly, and kicked the shifter between the legs. Falling to its knees, it doubled over in pain which gave Grace the opportunity to punch it several times. Its head snapped back with the blows but it resisted the pain and grabbed Grace's arms, lifting her up into the air and threw her back down on the floor.

"Ahhhh!" she moaned in pain. Her back which had just settled down from the last hit, was once again disturbed. She was sure she was going to have bruises on her back, at least.

The shifter stormed up to her, now very frustrated, and slammed her back into a wall.

"Ahhh!" Grace thrashed as it repeatedly slammed her injured back into the hard plaster.

"Not so strong, are you now Gracie Lee Winchester?" it whispered in her ear.

"Don't call me Gracie!" she yelled, kicking the shifter in the stomach and forcing it to let go of her.

"Oh no you don't!" The shifter ran towards her again and after grabbing a nearby lamp, knocked her out cold.

Grace landed on the floor with a thud.

------------------------------

"Hey Sam," Amanda waved.

Sam got up, surprised that she was here and hugged her. "Hey you…"

"You haven't been waiting here too long have you?" she asked, hugging him back.

"No, not at all," he smiled. "Did you get anything out of Steven's parents?"

"Nah, we got nothing. Nothing that indicated Steven would want to kill himself. You?"

Sam shook his head no. "I got nothing either."

There was a still silence where they both just stood and held each other. Finally, Amanda broke it.

"Did you want to go for a walk?" she asked looking up at him. _God he's a giant. A beautiful giant. __**My**_ _beautiful giant._

"Yeah sure," he answered, looking down and smiling. The two walked, hand in hand, into the forest of trees which were joined together with a pebble path.

--------------------------------

"Ah, there we are."

The shapeshifter had just finished tying Grace up to one of the bed posts with some rope.

"Huh?" Grace asked, still fading in and out of dizziness.

"What? No more snarkiness from little ol' Grace?"

Grace moaned at the pain shooting up her spine as she shook her head.

"Aww…how cute," it mocked. "Sit tight Gracie…we're going to have some fun."

"I said…Don't. Call. Me. Gracie." she said coldly, each word with a shake and tug on her bound wrists.

"You're the one tied up Gracie," it said making sure to accentuate the word 'Gracie'. "I can call you whatever you want."

"What do you want with me?" she asked. "I didn't even go looking for you."

"When I heard the Winchesters were coming I just couldn't resist…" is said as it leant forward and kissed Grace hard on the mouth.

"Mpphhh…" came Grace's muffles screams and yells as the shifter continued assaulting her body.

"So sweet…" it finished, pulling away.

It walked outside to prepare for Grace, while she was left inside all alone, frightened for her life. Dean was god knows where right now, and Sam and Amanda weren't expecting her to pick them up any time soon. She could be dead by the time they come back.

Grace sat, tied up on the floor by the bed, sobbing.

------------------------------

_Splash._

"Hummhhh?"

_Swoosh._

"What the? Where am I?"

"You're in a bathroom you asshole."

Dean finally worked up enough energy to open his eyes. As soon as his sight breached the barrier of his eye lids, he was met with blinding white light. _Damn these brighter-than-needed fluorescent lights._

The door slammed closed after the man who had called him an asshole left.

Sitting up from where he was laying inside an open cubicle, he braced his right hand on the wall and pushed up from the floor.

"God, this place smells like ass," he cringed. "Why didn't I notice before? Ugh."

Stepping out of the cubicle that sported a foul odour, Dean staggered forward to the mirrors and dropped his hands forward onto the sink.

Breathing heavily, he looked around trying to recall what had happened earlier.

_Man…who the hell hit me._ _Dickhead was nuts. Freaking flashy eyes._

"Wait a minute…"

Dean stood up straighter as realisation hit him.

"Shit," he yelled, quickly running out of the bathroom, knocking over a man who had just entered in the process.

"Oww, man!" the guy yelled, cursing at Dean for being reckless.

Not even bothering to apologise, Dean zoomed out the door, knocking over even more people, and ran for the car.

_The car…_

"Fuck! The car!"

Dean looked around rapidly for anything he could use. Skimming the parking lot, his eyes landed on an old Honda parked away from the others.

"Bingo." Running up to it, Dean smashed the window with his elbow and jumped in after unlocking the driver's side door.

Opening the front compartment, he ripped the wires apart and began quickly touching them together, trying to make a spark.

He smiled in relief when he heard the engine start, meaning he had successfully hot-wired a car once again, and pulled out to the motel, it being his best lead. He had no idea where the others were so right now, the motel would be his best bet.

"God…this thing better not do stupid shit with my face on. ARGH!" he yelled, slamming his hands on the steering wheel angrily. _It better not have hurt Grace, Sam or Amanda._

While only knowing Amanda for just over a week, him and Amanda had bonded and become pretty close friends. He certainly didn't need a shapeshifter ruining everything they had built.

Looking at the time and seeing it was nearly evening, he stepped on the gas and prayed everything would be alright until he arrived.

---------------------------------

"So…" Amanda started.

"How are you liking hunting with us so far?" Sam finished with a small smile.

The two were currently walking along a small trail in the big park. It was a lovely place filled with lots of fresh air and a relaxing atmosphere. Children were riding on their bikes, teenagers playing sport, families having picnics. Amanda could only hope that once all the hectic hunting started to relent a little, she and her partner would be able to settle down in a place like this. She wasn't sure if it would be Sam but she certainly hoped it would be.

"Well, putting aside all the hardcore researching and fighting with nasty little monsters, I like it. I think it's an interesting career after going through the boring job of waitressing. The bonus is, I get to be with you. I mean, that's why I came in the first place, isn't it? I don't know what it is with you Sam Winchester, but I'm beginning to love you very, very much," she grinned widely.

Sam snaked a long arm around her waist and pulled her into a gigantic teddy bear hug, giving her the biggest kiss he could muster up, not caring that they were in a public place. He was with Amanda so he wouldn't give a damn if the whole world was watching them on television.

"Well Amanda something Durante, I think that means I have to love you too then," he joked.

Amanda hit him in the arm as they continued walking.

"_Have_ to love me, my ass. You love me because you want to and you know it," she smirked. "Oh, and by the way, my middle name's Moore."

"Amanda Moore Durante," he grinned. "Beautiful name."

"Damn straight." With that last statement, Amanda grabbed the back of Sam's head and kissed him once again, Sam leaning into her embrace and warmth.

----------------------------------

"Aww Gracie, you're not crying now, are you?" the shapeshifter mocked with a pout, cocking its head to the side. "Awww…"

"Shut up, you son of a bitch."

"Oh!" it gasped with a hand over its mouth. "You should be nicer to me." The shifter grabbed Grace's head and twisted it on a painful upward angle. "Like I said before, you're the one tied up."

Walking away and shoving Grace's head back down in one swift movement, the shifter walked up to the duffel bag it had retrieved from the trunk of the beloved impala.

"Ahh…what a beauty."

Grace looked up from her pained state to the shifter. In its hand, was one of Dean's very sharp and very dangerous knives. One small slice of it could render a huge cut and have you bleeding for hours, if not more.

"Whoa, put that down big guy. Don't want someone like you playing with a dangerous toy like that."

"Well I don't know exactly how dangerous this is," the shifter said looking at her tauntingly. "Guess you'll be my test subject."

Grace whimpered as she failed at escaping from her bonds and the shifter got closer.

Bending down on one knee, the shifter placed the knife in the middle of her chest and began dragging it downwards applying pressure, effectively making a long cut which immediately started to bleed, soaking her white tank top in red.

"Oh dear, it is a sharp knife isn't it."

Tears welled up in Grace's eyes but she refused to cry. Crying in front of the enemy meant weakness. Weakness meant defeat. And even if it was the last thing she did, she was not about to admit defeat.

"Sure is," she groaned.

The shifter then repeated the action but this time on both sides of her arms.

Grace whined at a high pitch as pain tore through her whole upper body. She could feel the blood dripping down herself and the smell was making her sick.

"Let's see…what do we have here?"

The shifter unbuttoned the blue jeans she had put on when they were leaving for the bar, and pulled them down her hips.

Trailing the knife softly up and down her legs, it pushed down on the knife every once and a while, leaving small cuts all over her.

"Nughhhh…" she whimpered with a small cry. The shapeshifter continued torturing her with Dean's knife even after she begged it to stop.

She knew this wasn't Dean, but she couldn't help but think how she would react when she saw the real Dean again. _If _she saw him again.

Would she be scared of him? Blinded by the painful images from the last hour? Or would she welcome him with big arms, glad to have him there to protect her?

_I guess time will tell._

------------------------------------

"God. Drive faster Dean. Drive faster!"

Dean pushed himself and the car to the limit, hoping to get back to the motel faster.

With the traffic, it had taken him nearly half an hour just to get off the main road and closer to his final destination.

Pushing the car to 110kmph **(A/N: Roughly 70mph for you Americans)**, Dean sped his way down to the long road just around the corner from the hotel.

_Wee-woo-wee-woo. _**(Sounds stupid but whatever!)**

"Oh shit. Siren."

Dean looked back into the rear view mirror and audibly sighed and groaned as he saw blue and red lights flashing behind him.

"I so do not have time for this shit!" he cursed.

The policeman pulled him over and walked over to his window.

"Step out of the car please sir," he asked from outside into Dean's half opened window.

"I'm sorry, I can't. There's an emergency and I need to hurry. My girlfriend's in trouble and I need to help her," he said with urgency apparent in his voice and face.

"Sir, you do realise how fast you were driving, right?" Dean nodded. "This is a suburban area. You can't drive this fast out here, boy."

"I know sir, but please, you gotta let me go. Give me a speeding ticket or a fine or whatever, but please just let me go," he pleaded.

The policeman nodded. "I normally don't do this and would normally hold you but I'll let this go since you sound like you're in a lot of trouble."

The man quickly tore off a ticket and handed it to Dean through the window.

"Drive safe now."

With those last words, Dean sped off to the motel, once again speeding but not going as fast as he was before.

"Young men," the cop shook his head.

Skidding around the corner, Dean came to a halt once he reached the motel parking lot.

"God, please let them be okay," he pleaded softly to himself.

Quickly ransacking the trunk for his favourite gun and some silver bullets, he slammed it shut before ramming his shoulder into the door, effectively knocking down.

The sight he was greeted with made him want to cry.

Grace lay, nearly unconscious, on the floor near their bed moaning softly in pain. She was now loosely tied up from all her pulling and had huge amounts of sweat on her body, plastering her hair to her face. She had blood, cuts and bruises all over her. His little Gracie looked so fragile and weak.

"Oh Gracie…"

When Dean finally tore his eyes away from the horrific sight, he found himself looking at the shapeshifter who had taken his face and used it against his baby.

"Hello Dean," it greeted.

"I am going to kill so. Nice and slow. Just the way you've been torturing Gracie," he said menacingly, walking closer to the creature.

"Yeah, that was fun… Do you know after she let that shield of hers fall down, every time I cut her she would beg me to stop? Beg for you to come help her?" Dean said nothing. "Aww…big brave Dean Winchester wasn't there to help his girlfriend," it taunted. "How sad!"

"Shut up you mother fucker!" Dean yelled as he shoved the shifter into the wall with his forearm on its neck.

"What? Something I said?" it grinned.

Dean grabbed the shifter by the collar and threw it into an already dented wall. _Must've thrown Gracie around pretty hard._

Seeing this only fuelled Dean's anger. Pulling out his silver gun, he aimed at the shifter and was about to pull the trigger when it suddenly jumped up and made Dean lose his aim.

It swatted its hand quickly at Dean's, knocking the gun onto the floor.

Staring at the now lost object, Dean didn't see the punch directed at his jaw. He flew back a couple of steps at the impact.

"You pack a good punch."

The shifter grinned and ran to punch him again, but this time Dean was lucky enough to catch his fist and flip him over his back, sending the shifter crashing onto the floor.

"You'll never win Winchester," it snarled, wiping some blood off its mouth with the sleeve of his shirt.

"Don't be so sure of that."

_Bang._

In the time the shifter was occupied, Dean had been able to crawl over to retrieve his gun. He shot the shifter in the heart, and it fell to the floor dead.

_Bang. Bang._

"Just for good measure," he reasoned with himself.

Dropping his gun and running over to the bed where Grace was tied at, Dean undid the rope and let her collapse in his arms.

"Oh baby…" Dean held her close to him, stroking her soft brown her away from her face. "Let's get you all fixed up."

Placing her up on the bed, Dean ran to one of their duffels to fetch the first aid kit.

Sitting down by her side and placing her lying in his lap, Dean began cleaning up all of her cuts with a small bottle of hydrogen peroxide, bandaging them up as he went along.

"Looks like this one needs stiches, sweetie," he said softly, frowning at the thought of hurting his girl.

"I hate stiches," Grace pouted. "Do you know how disgusting it feels when they get pulled out?" she cringed.

Dean nodded and began preparing the needle. Directing her to look away and to think of happy thoughts – naked Dean wink wink – Dean inserted the needle and began pushing it through skin. Poking it up and to the surface, he doubled over and tied it off. Repeating the process three more times, he was able to slap on a piece of gauze which would keep it safe from being torn.

After he had completed his task, he looked over her one more time, sighing at the twenty or so bandages covering her body.

"Should've never let that thing get me…" he frowned. "If it weren't for me you wouldn't be like this," he finished softly, continuing to stroke her hair.

"Dean," a small voice whispered.

Dean looked at her face to see Grace's eyes flutter open. At that moment, they were the most beautiful things he had ever seen.

"Hey," he whispered back just as quietly. "You're awake."

She nodded. "Yeah…"

"Are you okay?" he asked, grasping her much smaller hand tightly in his to reassure himself that she was okay.

"I am now that you fixed me up. Damn that knife was sharp," she tried to lighten the mood.

"I should make it blunt shouldn't I?" he smiled playfully.

"Absolutely. Next time the bad guy wants to tie me up and use me for meat cutting practice, he won't be able to because Dean Winchester's knife will be blunt."

"Yeah but what about when we're hunting?" he kissed her lightly and pulled away, teasing.

"Mmm…screw knives. You Winchester boys do just fine with your guns," she smirked, kissing him back.

"You know…" he started, peppering small kisses all over her face. "You said you would make it up to me…"

Grace looked at her boyfriend in confusion before it clicked. _Oh right…the music…damn I hoped he'd forget._

"Okie dokie. Time to claim your prize Winchester."

Dean smirked his charming smirk and leaned Grace back on the bed.

He kissed her passionately and his hands were roaming, as were hers.

"Oww!"

Dean quickly sat up, apologising profusely because he had hurt her.

"Guess we should do this when I'm not all carved up, huh?" she concluded.

"Yeah," he nodded understandingly.

It was now sunset so Dean tugged on Grace's hand to get up.

"What?" she asked.

Dean never answered, just pulled her along outside after he had thrown some clean clothes on her.

Once they reached the parking lot, Dean sat her down on the hood of his car and he joined her.

"Look." Dean pointed to the beautiful sunset just ahead of them. The sky was mixed in a flurry of pink, orange, yellow and red.

"It's beautiful Dean…" she said in awe.

"Yeah. Just like you," Dean said playing with a strand of her hair. Pulling her chin towards him, they kissed softly while the sun set and the day became night.

--------------------------------

"Think we should call Grace now? Walking in the dark isn't so much fun Amanda," Sam laughed.

"Okay then."

Slipping her phone out of her pocket, Amanda pressed number 3 on her speed-dial for Gracie.

"_Hello?"_ a masculine voice answered.

"Dean?" she looked at Sam with her eyebrows raised. "What are you doing answering Grace's phone? You two aren't in bed are you?" she asked panicking.

"_Do you think I would answer the phone at all if I were in bed with her?"_

Amanda rolled her eyes and Sam knew his brother had just made a stupid comment.

"_Didn't think so. Anyways, what are you calling for?"_

"Just calling to get Grace to pick us up. We're at the park across the street from Billy's parent's house."

"_Hey, she can't really do that right now."_

"What, why?" she asked, worry in her voice.

"_A shapeshifter got Gracie. She's got quite a few cuts and bruises on her, Amanda."_

"Oh my god. Are you ser- Okay. We'll call a cab. We'll be there in ten."

Amanda hung up her phone and began calling another number.

"What is it Amanda? What's wrong?" Sam asked looking at her.

"Grace. She was attacked by a shapeshifter and she's injured according to Dean. I gotta call a cab." Sam nodded.

Not too long later, Sam and Amanda were in the back of a taxi and were making their way to the motel. All the way there, both were harassing the driver to drive faster.

After getting noting but threats of being thrown out, the two ended up paying the driver $100 if he was able to get them there in two minutes. Not surprisingly, the man took it and got them there in 1 minute, 45 seconds.

Barging inside, Sam and Amanda quickly ran over to the bed where Dean had set her down to rest.

"Hey sweetie, you okay?" Amanda asked softly. Grace weakly nodded. Although her cuts and bruises would heal, she was still feeling a little out of it after losing quite an amount of blood, not to mention the beating she had taken.

"Hey, you'll be alright pumpkin," Sam gave her a small kiss on her forehead, petting her hair softly.

"I know. Got the three of the most awesome people looking after me. How couldn't I be," she smiled.

"So where is this sick bastard that did this to Grace?" Sam asked, suddenly angry.

Dean pointed to the floor behind the table he was sitting at. Sam followed the gesture and his eyes landed on Dean #2 who had blood seeping out onto the front of its shirt.

_Asshole, _Sam thought.

"Hmm. You gonna take it out back and burn it?" Amanda asked.

"Are you volunteering?" Dean smiled.

Amanda sighed. "No. But if you're not doing it then I guess I will be."

"I'll help," Sam thankfully offered. What kind of boyfriend would he be if he let his girlfriend drag a huge body out to the back of a motel and burn it all by herself? _Not a very good one._

-----------------------------------

"Damn, that was hard work," Amanda groaned as she wiped the sweat from her brow.

"Yeah, try digging a grave," Sam laughed, rubbing his hands together, ridding himself of the ash from the body and fire.

Amanda scrunched up her nose in distaste and stormed off with her tongue poking out of her mouth.

"Oh it's not _that _bad, you drama queen," Sam laughed.

"Are you kidding me?" she asked amused, crossing her arms across her chest and leaning back on her left hell, right foot hanging over her left.

"What?" he said as innocently as possible with a straight face. "It's not."

"Do you really like the sweet, fresh smell of old man?" she asked, gagging at the thought.

"No…." Sam started slowly, scratching his chin with his thumb and index finger. "But I like the smell of old woman!" he finished brightly.

Amanda shook her head, sighing and began walking back to the front of the motel.

"Why do I bother…" she asked herself, smoothing her palm roughly down her face.

"Okay, okay, I'm kidding baby." Sam quickly ran to follow and enveloped her in a massive hug around the waist, lifting her up into the air.

"Saaaammm!!!" she squealed, slapping at Sam's arms, trying to make him let go.

"What?" he asked teasingly as he began tickling her sides causing Amanda to kick and writhe against him.

"Please…" she barely got out, still trying to wrench Sam's hands away from her, while catching her breathe.

"Please what?" he pushed on, smirking at her.

She paused for a moment, looking down. "Please stop tickling me…" she said quietly, pouting pathetically at him.

As soon as he saw this, Sam relented with a huff and set Amanda back down on the brown gravel.

"One day that isn't going to work on me Amanda," he said trying to sound stern although the corners of his lips began to tug up, no matter how hard he tried.

"Right…" she nodded in mock belief. "Keep thinking that Winchester and one day you just might believe it sweetie."

With a pat on his shoulder and a small smile, Amanda swivelled around and trotted towards the direction of Dean and Grace's room.

This time, Sam did nothing to stop her and instead, stood mouth gaped.

He pouted. "She did not just walk out on me!" he whined childishly.

------------------------------------

"Hey guys," Amanda greeted cheerily as she closed the door to the room with her foot.

"Why are you so smiley? Sam work his magic on you?" Grace teased.

_I wish. _"Nah, just a little tiff with Sammy outside," she smiled.

Dean swatted Grace in the arm. "What do you mean _Sam's magic_? Sammy's got nothing on me," he pouted, rubbing his head adorably against her arm like a puppy.

Grace smiled at him and put her arm around his shoulders, stroking his spikes with that hand.

"So what was the shifter's motive again?" Sam asked abruptly, out of breathe, as he ran inside, slamming the door.

Everyone looked at him strangely after he had broken the calm silence.

"What?" he asked, oblivious to it all.

"Nothing…" Amanda sighed from the table she was leaning on.

"Well it went after me because I was with you guys and it 'just couldn't resist'," Grace shipped in with a roll of her eyes.

"And the sports guys?" Sam asked, walking to stand behind Amanda, a little to the side because of the table.

"It was probably after fame or something…used the body to get some attention after killing the real guys…" Dean finished.

"Psshhh…losers."

"You guys burned it right?" Grace suddenly asked, looking up as if she had just remembered.

"Yeah of course," Sam and Amanda answered in unison, nodding.

"Good. Don't need a dead body floating around in the middle of nowhere."

"Only you Dean. Only you," Grace smiled. Dean stared at her confused before he finally understood after a few seconds of hard thinking.

"Oh shut up." Dean rolled over to where Gracie was laying and ruffled her hair. Bringing a hand up to her head, Grace straightened it back out again neatly and sent Dean an evil glare.

"Don't touch my hair Dean."

_Silence._

"Dean?"

_More silence._

"DEAN FUCKING WINCHESTER!!!" Grace yelled, sitting up and whacking Dean in the face with her hand.

"Oww!" Dean yelped cradling his hand to his soon-to-be swollen face. "Gosh, take it easy, woman!"

"That's what you get for ignoring me buddy," Grace snorted turning away.

Dean sat still for a few moments, unsure of what exactly to do while Amanda and Sam giggled softly in amusement before Dean gave them the shut-the-hell-up-or-else-I'll-kill-you glare.

"This'll be a long night…" Sam whispered, to which Amanda nodded.

-----------------------------------

"Umm…could be have dinner now?" Sam asked softly, not wanting to make any sudden noise.

Dean and Grace were currently in the middle of a fight. Grace was situated on one of the beds armed with a pillow, while Dean stood in front of her, on the ground, with a pillow of his own.

Both stood still, not wanting to make the first move this time around. Swinging down would give your opponent the opportunity to strike an unguarded area of your body.

"Please?" Amanda asking, whining a little. Sam slung an arm over her shoulders and pulled her towards him, resting her head in the crook of his shoulder.

"Don't worry babe," Sam soothed, rubbing his cheek along the crown of her head, breathing in the scent of her hair. "I'll make 'em stop."

Sam jumped up from his position on the other bed and ran to stand between the two armed fighters.

Holding his hands up on either side of him, stopping both people, he shouted, "Dinner?!"

Grace and Dean stopped looking at each other for a second and began diverting their attention to Sam. Taking a few seconds to register what he had just said, both nodded in agreement.

"Okay, it's good we have that all settled-"

_Thwack!_

_Swoosh!_

"Hehehehehehe…" Dean and Grace both started giggling like little children.

Amanda stepped back into her own little corner hoping to avoid the action. Winchester wars were dangerous.

"Owwww!" Sam screamed, gritting his teeth, palming the back of his head.

Looking up, he saw Dean and Grace both holding their pillows up after having striked him.

Once more, the two brought the pillows down on poor Sam's vulnerable head and began repeating the action several times.

"Please…please. Come on! I just- Dinner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Dean stopped at the mention of food while Grace suddenly became aware of something.

"Amanda? Where's Amanda?"

All heads turned to look at the corner she was hiding in. Grace advanced on her and began giving Amanda the same treatment she gave not so little Sammich.

Amanda had tried defending herself but it was all no use. Grace was psychotic and crazy when she was armed with pillows.

"Gracie…"

Grace turned around, stopping, and looked at Dean who had thrown his pillow onto the bed and was now walking towards her.

Stopping in front of her he ran his hands up and down her arms. "You wanna stop before you hurt someone sweetie?" he smiled.

Looking up at him, she gave a small nod and threw her pillow over his shoulder, letting it land next to Dean's.

"So, dinner?" she asked quietly, leaning her head against his chest.

Dean nodded and wrapped an arm around her back, pulling her closer to him.

"Where did you guys want to eat?" Grace asked, turning around b still in Dean's tight embrace.

Sam shrugged. "Anywhere, I don't mind. Amanda?"

She too shrugged. "I'm with him," she pointed.

"Gee, that narrows it down," Dean said while rolling his eyes.

"Oh shut up," Amanda shot back, sticking her tongue out at him. "What do you suggest then, Mr. I'm So Smart?"

Dean stood, crossing his arms defiantly. "The diner."

Sam laughed softly. "Did you want to specify that, Dean?"

Dean looked hardly at Sam.

"We'll just go to the one across the road," Grace stepped in, helping her Deanie out.

"Yeah, that one."

Both Amanda and Sam smirked. "Whatever."

Shrugging on their jackets over their jeans and shirts, the four stepped out into the cooling air and started walking across the parking lot.

"Damn it's pretty cold out," Dean commented, checking both ways before crossing the street, the others following.

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "I hate cold weather."

Amanda began smiling after seeing Sam's small pout. He was looking down on the ground as he walked but nonetheless, she could see the pout.

"Hey," she said to him, swatting his arm and causing him to look up. "Stop pouting."

"What? It's true. I hate the cold…" he said mumbling the last part.

"I'll keep you warm," Amanda grinned. "Don't you worry."

Sam seemed to lighten up a lot more after her comment and held her around the waist as they approached the diner.

On the outside, the white paint was cracked and had seemed to start painting. The neon sign hanging just below the roof was half broken; many letters of the name in darkness after the bulbs had either burst or just died from use. The building itself looked as if it were about to tumble but seeing as it wasn't wobbling just yet, the four entered.

The first thing they saw inside was a big jukebox machine sitting on the side of the diner, to the right of the door. On the other side of the diner were all the booths, and straight ahead was the counter and kitchen.

"Hmm…" Dean hummed, eyebrows raised. "Not too bad…for a diner."

"Oh you're just picky," Grace teased, sliding into the booth beside him, Sam and Amanda taking the other.

"I am not," he defended, frowning.

"Yeah. Definitely not Dean," she mocked.

Dean frowned even more. "Oh leave me alone…" he pouted.

"Whatever babe," she laughed, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

Dean scowled. _She is _not _getting away with that._

"So…" Amanda started leaning back onto Sam's open left arm.

"What are we getting?" Sam finished, sliding down a little in the seat to make up for his…tallness compared to Amanda's 5'7 frame.

Grace shrugged. "Waitress!" she yelled, waving down one of the ladies behind the counter.

Not too long after, a woman in her late twenties approached them, notepad open, and pencil ready.

"Hi, what can I get you?" she asked cheerily, eyeing Dean immediately.

Grace scooted closer to him, as if in protective mode, and started glaring the blonde bitch.

Dean was of course, oblivious to the extra attention he was receiving and smiled back at the waitress which made Grace fume.

Luckily Sam saw and placed a large hand on her arm, coaxing her to calm down. They really didn't need to get kicked out by one of the waitresses.

"I'll have a steak and mashed potatoes, thanks," Sam ordered, hoping to pull her attention away from his thick-headed brother.

Looking over for a split second, she jotted it down with her pencil and asked, "Peas or carrot?"

Sam contemplates his choices for a few seconds. "Peas…" he finally decided. She once again nodded and turned her full attention back to Dean almost immediately.

"Uh…I'll have a grilled chicken and salad," Amanda ordered next, hoping to achieve the same result as Sam had.

"Okay, what about you handsome?" she asked, making googly eyes at Dean.

"I will have…" Dean started, looking over the menu carefully, biting his lower lip with his teeth in thought. "I'll have a t-bone steak, no vegies," he finished, smirking.

The waitress giggled and began blushing as she wrote it down on her order sheet.

"Anything else I can get you?" she asked leaning forward. "And I mean anything, you know…" she trailed off.

Grace had reached the point of beyond anger and frustration, and started breathing heavily like she was Darth Vader behind his creepy mask.

"Yeah, I'd like to order please!" she yelled, standing up, nearly knocking Dean off the side.

"Whoa, jeez!" Dean yelled in surprise, grasping the edge of the table with his fingers, and hoisting himself upright.

"Oh no! Are you okay?" the waitress cooed, reaching her hands out and was now all over him.

Darting her hands away from his face, he replied a polite, "I'm fine thanks."

"HEY!"

The waitress turned around to be met with a pair of menacing death glares coming from Grace.

"What? Can I help you?" she asked rudely, obviously not getting the idea that she and Dean were in a relationship.

"Yeah. I'd like you to get off of my boyfriend and take my freaking order!" she screamed in the waitress's face.

"Boyfriend?" she asked surprised. "You sure weren't acting like it, honey! You damn near knocked him off the table!"

"Yeah…" Grace started sarcastically, really ticked off. "And that was AFTER you practically started having mind sex with my boyfriend!!!!" she flailed her arms around, frustrated.

"No I wasn't," she dismissed, bringing her hand up to her face and looking at her trimmed nails.

"Uh…yes you were!" Grace demanded, slamming her hand on the desk.

Cue Sam and Amanda to the rescue!

"Hey, hey, hey. Grace sweetie, calm down," Sam soothed, pulling Grace back down into her seat and away from the ignorant waitress.

"Sam," she grit out. "This bitch is pissing the shit out of me," she yelled, making sure the waitress could hear her loud and clear. "If she doesn't keep her manicured hands away from Dean, I'll scratch her eyes out!" The waitress let out a snort.

"What? Don't think I will, princess?" she challenged, raising her eyebrows. The truth was, Grace really did want a reason to be able to attack her.

"Ha! No way. Not a little thing like you," she laughed, throwing her head back.

"Oh boy…" Sam sighed. Shit was about t hit the fan.

"I'm sorry?" Grace asked, making sure she had heard correctly.

The waitress once again ignored her and turned to face a now very aware Dean. "So…can I have your number? Or…did you just want to come back to my place?"

"That bitch…"

Grace jumped out of the booth, over Dean's legs, and pounced on the waitress, bringing them both to the floor.

They tackled for what seemed like hours to the three onlookers, even though it had only been mere minutes. There was a lot of hair pulling, slapping, punching, kicking, wailing and screaming.

They had attracted the attention of the whole diner until Amanda gave out a shout for them to look away and that there was nothing to see. But did those bulgy guys listen? No.

Dean and Sam had finally risen up from their seats and were currently pulling the two apart. Amongst all the scratching and clawing the two had done to the air separating them from each other, the boys finally got them apart and Sam placed the waitress on the floor, far away from their table and from Grace.

"What on earth is all this commotion?!" the manager demanded, grasping the waitress's arm tightly.

"She attacked me!" she immediately yelled, pointing accusingly at Grace while narrowing her eyes.

"She was coming onto my boyfriend!" Grace yelled back. "You should've seen her! Like a barfly with women. Her being the barfly and Dean being the women!"

Dean muttered a 'hey!' but it was lost, due to all the ruckus.

The manager scratched his hairy arm and answered, "Nancy, get in the back! I'll talk to you later. Thought I already explained the 'no coming onto customers' rule," he drawled, having a strong Texan accent.

Nancy opened her mouth to protest before the manager shut her up and shooed her away with his hand. She mumbled a string of profanities before making her way through the doors and into the kitchen.

"I am terribly sorry," the manager apologised, walking up to Grace and her companions. "My name's Bill, and as you would probably have guessed, I'm the manager here. Nancy has…Nancy has a problem controlling her hormones. She's all over fine looking men like yourselves," he said, gesturing to both boys.

"Oh it's okay. I know what it's like to see such lookers in a place like this," Amanda smiled. _Hey, I met Sam in a diner._

Bill smiled. "Tell you what, dinner's on me for all the trouble she's caused you. It'll be coming out of _her_ pay check don't worry 'bout a thing." he smiled. "Did you need anything else?"

"Oh, I didn't get to order," Grace spoke up, lifting a finger in the air.

The manager picked up the discarded notepad and pencil from the desk and took down Grace's order of grilled fish and steam vegies.

"Alright, your food'll be delivered shortly. Hope you enjoy the rest of the night," he nodded courteously, walking back into the kitchen, where Nancy stood waiting, with the order form.

"I changed my mind," Dean said suddenly. "This is an awesome diner."

Amanda laughed and shook her head. "You're just saying that because we're getting free food."

"Yeah, why else?" he chuckled, and stopped after seeing Grace's frown. "And don't you worry Gracie. Ain't no waitress taking me away from you," he said, pulling her onto his lap and pushing her head to lie on his chest.

"I know that Dean. But it upsets me that you didn't even notice she was fully flirting and coming onto you. What's even worse is that you flirted back," Grace admitted, looking into Dean's beautiful green eyes, wetness beginning to well up in her own.

"Oh sweetie…" he pulled her up and hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry. You know I don't mean to, right?" he asked, making her lean back so her could see her face.

"Yeah I know Dean, but it doesn't mean it doesn't hurt babe."

Dean nodded and buried his face in the crook of her neck while she leaned her cheek against him, as if a silent understanding had passed through them both.

"Aww…" Amanda whispered quietly, looking up at Sam. "They're adorable you know that?"

Sam chuckled at the concept of Dean being "adorable".

"Yeah," he sighed. "They are."

Sometimes he wished he could act that way with Grace. They had always been best friends as teenagers, and it hurt him when she would always coming crying to him. Crying to him about _Dean_. About how _he_ was like the most wonderful person in the world and how she couldn't have _him. _Somedays, he would really wish she felt that way about _him_. Pining for _him_. Wishing she could be with _him_. Not Dean. He never treated women right, so who was to say he would start now?

If Dean was ever to break Grace's heart, Sam would be there for her in a heartbeat. Sure, he cared for Amanda, maybe loved her, but there was no guarantee that if Grace was free, he wouldn't go to her. I mean, he had known her nearly his entire life, so sure, she had definitely grown on him.

Amanda smiled at the cute couple in front of her and leaned in closer to Sam, as they had inched away after the fight had broken out.

"Think we'll be as cute, Sam?" she asked randomly, laughing.

Sam shook his head at her. "Maybe."

"_You don't contr-- No! No she did it I didn't-- I wasn-- She-- That little bit-- No you can't fire me I'm-- BILL! You can't do th-- Just wait till I te--"_

All four turned their heads to the kitchen door and raised their eyebrows at the screaming match Nancy and Rill were currently having. Something about Nancy being allowed to do whatever she wanted, and how it was all Grace's fault so she shouldn't be fired, and bleh.

"That bitch got what she deserved," Grace smiled in triumph. "That's what you get for messing with my boyfriend!" she yelled happily.

Dean chuckled a long manly chuckle which rumbled through his chest as he smiled widely. "That's my girl."

Moments later, a very pissed off and crying Nancy burst through the double metal doors and came to stand in front of the four's booth.

"I hope you're happy. Just because you couldn't learn to share, I got fired!" she yelled.

"Uh hello? Share? Do you see me ever sharing a guy in my life? I don't think so! Can you see yourself sharing Dean if he were your boyfriend with me? I don't think so!!!" she blatantly stated.

Nancy huffed and stormed off in her tiny little high heels that looked like they would snap at even the lightest pressure. _Gee…that would be fun to watch._

Another waitress came through the doors not long after, balancing four plates on two trays.

"Here you are. Sorry for the delay," she apologised smiling, and set the dishes on the table.

_Oh this waitress is much friendlier. And she didn't even try hitting on Dean! YAY!_

"Bill was busy yelling at Nancy so we were a bit short on staff. Enjoy your meal," she said as she picked up the two trays, holding them on the side in front of her lap and walked away.

"Why could've we have her as our first waitress?" Grace asked pouting. All three laughed. "What?" More laughing. "She was nice!!"

Dean shook his head. "Whatever squirt."

Dean grabbed his plate and began digging into his steak, as did Sam after emptying the contents of the steak gravy sauce onto their pieces of meat. They both nearly near moaned, as they crunched down on the tender meat and gravy sauce.

"Dude…" Dean drooled. "Delicious."

Sam nodded, not even bothering to answer as her shoved, mouthful after mouthful into his mouth.

The girls sat, a little off their appetite, as they watched their partners practically inhaling their food.

"Uhh…you wanna slow down there, guys?" Amanda asked warily.

Both shook their heads no.

Grace and Amanda sighed as they too began eating. No point in arguing in a fight that couldn't be won.

The girls cut their chicken and fish with etiquette as they ate small bites at a time, chewing with their mouths closed. The completely opposite to the boys.

_We do so don't know them._

Once the girls had finished their meal with a wipe of a serviette, after the boys had gobbled up theirs quickly after they had been served, all four leaned back into their seats, satisfied.

"Three words. Best. Diner. Ever." Dean said smiling, rubbing his stomach happily.

"Yep. We should stay in Michigan for longer. There aren't any cases if I close my eyes and don't see them," Sam stated hopefully.

The girls rolled their eyes.

"Ooh…let's play with the jukebox!" Grace squealed, clapping her hands. "Gimme a quarter Dean."

Digging through his pockets, Dean flipped her some coins as she ran to the machine.

"Hmm…" Grace thought out loud as she skimmed through the selection of songs. "Oooh!" she squealed as she found one she was interested in.

Popping in some coins, she pushed button 14 and strode back to the table, waiting for the song to start.

"What'd you pick sweetie?" Dean asked. Grace shrugged and simply told him to wait and find out.

_Walkin' down this rocky road, _

_Wondering where my life is leading,  
Rollin' on…to the bitter end.  
Finding out along the way,  
What it takes to keep love living,  
You should know…how it feels my friend.  
_  
"Nice choice babe. Bad company," he smirked. She nodded and grinned.

_Ooh, I want you to stay…  
Ooh, I want you today…_

"I'm ready for love!!" she sang.

_Ooh baby, I'm ready for love…_

"Ready for love!"

_Ooh baby, I'm ready for love…  
Yeah…  
Ohhh, for your love…_

Dean smiled as Grace continued singing the song 'Ready For Love'. She wasn't a bad singer but she wasn't necessarily a good one either. But it was great to see Grace be free and sing as she pleased. _Dean_ liked it. The other two…maybe not so much. The guys in the diner? They seemed to like it too. Or maybe they were just hoping for a drunken, karaoke bar table top dance.

_Loud scoff. _Like that would ever happen on Dean's watch. Unless they were the only two in the building then…that would be okay.

_Now I'm on my feet again.  
Better things are bound to happen.  
All my dues…surely must be paid.  
Many miles and many tears,  
Times were hard but now they're changing,  
You should know…that I'm not afraid._

_Ooh, I want you to stay…  
Ooh, I want you today…  
I'm ready for love!  
Ooh baby, I'm ready for love…  
Ready for love!  
Ooh baby, I'm ready for love…  
Oh I'm ready for love!  
Ready for your love…_

**(A/N: Just couldn't resist guys. *grins* Hope some nice mental images flickered through your head as you heard the song LOL) **

Grace stood up from her seat and spun a complete 180, plopping herself down on Dean's lap.

"Hello," she waved.

"Hi?" he replied, a little confused.

"Okay don't worry," she laughed. "You might pull something."

He pouted. Cocking her head to the side, Grace let out a tiny smile and stroked Dean's slightly stubbled cheek, hoping to rid him of his pout. Sure, it was cute, but she didn't like it when Dean was upset or complaining about something.

"Mmmph…" he whined softly, pushing his cheek into the palm of her hand.

"Aww…" she cooed, plopping her face down on top of his, foreheads touching.

"Meanie."

Grace leant back and gasped in mock offense, as she slapped him hard on the arm.

"Oww! Jesus," he growled, looking down at the arm of his leather jacket. "Don't hit me, woman!"

Dean reached out to Grace's waist and began mercilessly tickling her. She cried out for him to stop, but Dean continued his assault for a couple of minutes at least.

Grace breathed in and out rapidly as her heartbeat had definitely sped up. Don't only from the tickling but just being so close to Dean in general. Once her mini panic attack had subsided, she leant forward and bit Dean on the nose.

He looked up at her, gob smacked. "Did you just bite me on the nose?"

She had the same expression on her face. "Did I? Hmm."

"Unbelievable," he sighed, prodding her in the side once more.

Grace let out a tiny yelp but quickly regained control of herself.

"Should we leave now?" she asked, resting her head, once again on his chest, breathing in the scent of his leather jacket and the smell of cinnamon wafting into her nose.

Dean nodded and gestured across the table to Sam and Amanda that they should leave.

"Sam."

_Silence._

"SAM!"

Sam jolted in his seat out of surprise, shocked to hear such a loud noise so suddenly.

"There you are. You spaced out for a bit sweetie," Amanda smiled, combing her fingers across his shaggy, brown hair.

"Sorry," he said quickly, rising from his seat and taking Amanda by the hand.

"Come on, let's go."

-------------------------------

The four returned home roughly five minutes later since it was only a short walk across the street.

Amanda and Sam retreated to their bedroom when they arrived and Dean and Grace went into theirs.

Arching his back, Dean turned on his side lay comfortably on the mattress. Letting out a sigh of satisfaction, Dean shut his eyes and slid his hands under the pillow to support his head.

Dean heard the water in the bathroom turn on and knew Grace was having a shower. _Hmm…I'll let her do it by herself, just this once._

Not too long after, Grace opened the bathroom door, steam rushing out along with the bright light.

"Dean?" she asked, walking over to the bed, wrapped in a towel.

"Hmm?" he replied, rolling over to open one eye to look at her.

"Where are my clothes?" Grace began shifting from foot to foot, maybe from the coldness. "I left them right there," she said, pointing to the desk where their duffels should have been.

Dean sat up groggily. _Damn I was so close to falling asleep. _"It's probably in the other room," Dean said, yawning and flopping back down onto the pillow.

"Okay." Grace stepped away the bed and made her way to the adjoining doors. Twisting and pulling on the door knob, she stepped inside as silently as she could. Sam and Amanda might be sleeping so she didn't want to wake them.

"Shit!" Grace yelled, immediately covering up her mouth as if it would capture the loud sound, as she accidentally tripped over something on the ground.

"Hmm?" a male voice asked through the darkness.

"Hey Sam," she whispered sheepishly. "Sorry. It's dark and I…I just couldn't see. I was just looking for my clothes. They don't seem to be in my room."

Sam shifted on the bed before he swung his long legs over the side of the bed and strode over to her.

"This it?" he asked, holding up the object she had tripped on.

"I can't exactly see Sammy. It's…kinda dark!" she laughed softly, Sam joining in.

He walked up towards the door and flipped on the light, turning the switch so it was only dim and not brightly blinding.

"Better?" he asked turning around, and for the first time catching her attire.

Grace blushed at Sam's heated gaze and quickly held up the bag, exclaiming that it was what she was looking for.

Sam averted his eyes and stared awkwardly at the wall until she was gone.

"Thanks," she muttered quietly, as she slunk back next door.

Sam leaned his back against the wall and slid down after switching off the light, dropping his face in his hands. _I did not just check her out…_

Sam sighed frustratedly and nearly knocked the table over in anger as he made his way back to bed.

_Great one Sam. She'll _really _like you now. _

Throwing his head back onto his pillow, Sam huffed and turned on his side, trying to sleep.

----------------------------------

Walking into her room, Grace dropped her towel and began putting on some clean sleep clothes. That consisted of black shorts and a white tank top.

Shuffling her feet on the ground, Grace climbed over the foot of the bed and made her way under the covers, curling into Dean's side.

"Hey…" he whispered. "You okay?" He turned to lie on his back and brought Grace to lay her head on his chest, slinging his left arm over her shoulder and onto her chest.

"Fine," she whispered just as quietly.

She didn't think she would tell Dean his brother was checking her out moments earlier. She was sure it was just a one off thing. I mean hey, she could recall checking him out not too long ago. She knew she was at least pretty, so she was used to it when guys looked at her in a not-so-brotherly way. But Dean, obviously, wouldn't take the news so well.

"Hmm…go to sleep," he murmured, placing his chin atop her hair and drifting off.

Soon enough, Grace followed suit.

-------------------------------

"Sam?" Amanda asked, sitting up just short of her pillow.

Sam's head turned as he heard his name being called out. Seeing Amanda awake, he turned fully to face her.

"What's wrong?" he asked, not entirely sure of why she was up. Maybe she had heard his little accident with the table earlier, and wanted to make sure everything was okay.

"I'm fine Sam. It's you. What's happening? I mean with me and you? You and Grace?" she asked, sighing sadly.

"What do you mean? We're fine," he said in denial, shaking his head.

"Well you didn't sound too find before. Seriously Sam. Sounded like you and something in our room were having a war!"

"Sorry Amanda…" he apologised, snagging a hand across her waist, before she pushed it back off her.

"Sorry for what? Sorry for picking fights with inanimate objects? Sorry for you having this weird "secret" attraction to Grace? Sorry that it might just ruin our relationship?" she asked, pawing off many things from the top of her head.

"Ruining our-" he started, shocked. "Ruining our relationship? What are you talking about? And Grace? What?"

"We can all see it Sam. It's so blatantly obvious. You like her. You know. She, of course, knows after what just happened. I know. Basically everyone but your thick-headed brother of yours knows. I'm sure he hasn't noticed just yet." she sighed again.

"Amanda…" he pleaded. "Come on. Grace and I will never happen. Don't worry."

"Just because you two apparently won't be together, doesn't mean it makes the situation any better," she whispered. "If you like her Sam, then I don't really see the go ahead. For us. For all I know, I could just be some sort of substitute for Grace. I could be with you, but all the time, you could be thinking and wishing that I'm her."

Sam closed his eyes, not knowing what else to do. His not-so-secret attraction had come and bit him in the ass.

"Amanda," he breathed in. "You already know so there's no point in me trying to deny it. I like Gracie, I do. But I can never be with her so long as Dean is here because I love my brother and would do anything for him, and I can't be alone forever. I need someone, Amanda. Someone like you. You're just as great as Grace, Amanda. You are. I'm not with Grace, I'm with you. I'm not with some other woman out there Amanda. You," he finished, trying to convey all of his emotions in just one breath.

A million thoughts began running through Amanda's head. "_But I can never be with her so long as Dean is here..." Does that mean he's only with me because he can't be with Grace? That he isn't dating her, only because of his brother? That if Dean weren't here, he would rather be with Grace than me?_

"Sam…" she whispered, grasping onto his hand as if it were her lifeline. "We'll give it a go okay. We'll see where this takes us. But if I find you falling for Grace while we're, you know, together, it'll be over Sam. We'll be over."

Even with all the thoughts of insecurity coursing through her head, she knew and hoped Sam would at least try to forget about Grace and give their own relationship a go.

Sam nodded, just glad to have a chance with Amanda again. He might not have known it now, but deep down he really did love Amanda. He just had to forget about his in-the-past relationship with Grace and bring it all out.

"I love you Sam," she said softly, resting her head on his bicep.

Sam paused for a moment, willing himself to tell her the truth. "…I love you too, Amanda. More than you'll ever know. " Sam pulled her snug against him and buried his face into the crook of her neck, putting tons of butterfly kisses all over it.

Amanda giggled and squirmed away but due to Sam's tight grasp around her waist, couldn't.

"Goodnight Sam!" she playfully announced in her ordering tone, telling him their playtime was over, and that sleep was to begin.

"Fine," he mumbled, stopping his hard grasp on her, but still held her loosely.

"Night Sam."

"Night."

-------------------------------------


	9. Working out the kinks

Sam was up bright and early, balancing a tray of four hot coffees in his right hand while opening the door with his left.

Pressing his back up against the door, he shuffled back, effectively opening it with no trouble.

Walking over to the centre-table, he placed the coffees down after taking one for himself.

Manoeuvring his tall frame into one of the small chairs, he leant back onto the backing and sighed, taking a large sip of his coffee.

_Please don't let today be awkward for me and Grace. God please…_

Sam sat in the chair for well over an hour, thinking about what he had done and what was happening. He had some twisted attraction to his brother's girlfriend, whilst having a girlfriend of his own. _I am so screwed…_

Beating himself up for everything whilst staring at the table, his thoughts seemed to drift back to Grace. He thought about how she felt about the whole situation. She was happy with Dean. She didn't and never liked Sam, so why would she start now? Not because he had stared at her semi-naked one night in his motel room.

Shaking his head, he put his now empty coffee back onto the desk before picking up two of the remaining coffees and making his way into the room next door.

_Here goes nothing…_

Pushing open the door just a smidge, Sam opened the door to make sure he wasn't interrupting anything. _Hey, you can never be too careful._

Luckily, Dean still lay soundly asleep on Grace's lap, while she was awake and combing her fingers through his hair thoughtfully.

Hearing the door creak open, Grace snapped out of her thoughts and focused on Sam in front of her.

"Hey…" she whispered softly, not wanting to wake Dean.

"I brought you and Dean some coffee," he whispered just as quietly, handing one cardboard-covered cup to her and setting the other down on the bedside table on Dean's side.

"Thanks." Taking a sip of the coffee, Grace closed her eyes, relishing the sweet taste of fresh ground coffee beans rushing over her tongue and down her throat. "Yum."

"This town's pretty cool, don't you think?" he laughed softly. "Awesome diners and nice coffee."

"Yeah," she nodded before quietening down. "So about last night…"

"Oh great, I was kind of hoping to avoid all of this," he said, somewhat jokingly and frustrated at the same time.

"Well it's not everyday I have you checking me out, is it?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Sam ducked his head until his bangs fell over his eyes, forming a curtain between the two.

_If only you knew…_he thought briefly before answering, "No, it isn't."

"It didn't mean anything since…I was just in a towel and…yeah so…I take it we won't need to mention it to Dean or Amanda?"

"Amanda already knows, Grace," he admitted with a sigh.

"She what?" He didn't reply. "What did she say?"

Sam thought about his options before deciding to tell her the truth.

"We nearly ended our relationship, Gracie," he said looking down. He figured it would be easier than looking into her eyes. Seeing her look of confusion and question, he continued. "She knows I like you Grace. She knows I've always liked you."

Grace gasped in surprise and tilted Sam's chin up so she could look into his sad brown eyes.

"Sam…" she started, voice filled with sympathy. "You never told me? This has been going on for a while, you say, and…you never told me?"

Sam didn't know whether she was hurt about it, or was just surprised.

Sam opted for surprised. "Well it's not like it matters, Grace. You have Dean now, and I have Amanda. No point in dwindling over something in the past."

"Is it really Sam? Can you honestly say you don't like me anymore?"

It's not like Grace wanted to provoke Sam into telling her how great she was and how much she liked him. She just wanted him to tell her the truth about how he really felt. She knew what it was like, liking someone for so long, and them not liking you back.

Saying those five words to Grace may have been one of the hardest things he had done. But if he was going to convince Grace and most importantly, himself, he had to.

"I don't like you anymore, Grace. You never liked me so…I moved on and now I have Amanda."

_-----------------------------_

_Flashback_ – _Grace 17, Dean 18_

Grace was walking home from school down Jefferson Road, carrying her brown shoulder bag with all of her textbooks.

Turning the corner and making her way into the apartment building John had been renting from, she walked down the corridor which was painted with a soft cream colour.

Nearing their room, she bent down to her bag and dug around for her keys. Grasping the cool metal in her hand, she thumbed through the set for the right key. Walking up to the door and beginning to push the key into the keyhole, she heard a thump causing her to turn around and assess her surroundings.

Holding the keys in a tight fist, she looked around seeing no one in plain sight. _Doesn't mean no one's here…_

John had trained Grace along with his boys at a young age. Even when Grace had lived with her birth parents, she still knew the basics of self defence and how to look after herself in a sticky situation.

Sneaking quietly away from the door and rounding the corner up ahead where she thought the sound had come from, she peered past the plaster and saw something disappear around another corner.

Quickly following, small blade she always carried around in hand, she turned to look at the supposed assailant and was shocked at what she saw.

What she saw was no attacker at all. It was in fact…Dean.

Grace looked on, as the guy she had liked for a couple of years, pushed another girl back up against the wall which had been a dead end.

She watched as he grabbed onto her waist and peppered kisses all over her face, neck and chest. The girl had a strong grip on Dean's back with one hand and had the other wound up in his hair.

Both moaned as they pushed up farther against the wall and Grace began feeling hot tears well up in her eyes.

Pushing away from the corner, dropping her shoulder bag in the process, she made her way back to the room with tears streaming down her face. Choking back large sobs, she jammed the key into the hole unsuccessfully and it fell to the floor.

Bending over and raking her hands through her hair in emotional pain, she picked up the keys and after a few heartless attempts, got the door open and she ran inside.

Banging on the door of the room Sam was supposed to be occupying repeatedly, she pleaded for him to open the door, all the while crying loudly.

Suddenly it flung open, a fourteen year old Sam standing in the doorway. She felt her knees give out as she landed on Sam who had caught her, and cried out to him.

"D--Dean…" was the only thing she got out.

After hearing that one word, Sam quickly carried her inside and placed her onto his bed, rubbing her back and tried to soothe her.

Even at that age, he knew his almost sister had a crush on his big brother.

"Hey sweetie…what did the jerk do now?" he asked quietly, trying to lighten the mood at least a little.

"Out--outside…he was k-kissing another girl and t-they--"

Sam covered her mouth so should could say no more. He got it. His brother, once again, out with another girl, completely ignoring the beautiful one he had right front of him.

"Shh…" he whispered. "It's okay."

Sam held her sobbing frame in his arms, wiping away tear tracks and squeezing her to near death with hugs when he needed to.

------------------------------

Grace was glad she had Sam. He, she could always count on. She never really realised until now, but Sam had always been by her side, helping her whenever she needed.

"Thanks Sam," she said, squeezing his hand.

"For what?" he asked, not sure of what exactly she was thanking him for. He hadn't been of any help in the last day or so.

"For just being here Sam." He was still confused. "Just for being here with me."

Sam nodded and hugged her, still not entirely sure why she had said what she did.

"Oh, and I think I did like you when we were in high school, by the way," she said suddenly, pulling away from him.

_Jesus. Love triangle much? _he laughed inwardly.

"I'll never leave…you know." He brushed a wisp of hair behind her ear and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek.

"You better not…" she smiled.

"Who better not what?"

"Great. The devil awakes!" Grace said sarcastically, softly flicking the back of his head which was still in her lap.

"Ouch…" Dean moaned and bitched for minutes about how Grace was always abusing him until he spotted the nice cup of coffee next to him. "Ooooooh…" he squealed in delight. **(A/N: YES squealed!)**

_Dean's attention span = Zero._

"You're such a nut…" Grace said, shaking her head at his immaturity.

"Well _excuse_ me for liking coffee," he glared, lengthening the word 'excuse' for what seemed like a minute.

Sam rolled his eyes. "More like you're addicted."

Dean pulled back, now giving Sam the evil's. "I am _not _addicted, thank you very much."

"Yeah…drinking approximately three cups of coffee every day _soo _isn't addicted."

Dean huffed and walked into Sam's room, retrieving Amanda's untouched coffee. Bringing it back to the bed, he flopped down and Grace's lap again and began pouring it down his throat.

"Dean," Sam said sternly. "That was Amanda's coffee."

"I know." _Drinking sounds._

"See?" Sam pointed at Dean, looking towards Grace. "Addicted."

Dean finished the coffee and threw it into the bin by the bed with his previous cup. "What? I finished mine. And it wasn't like Amanda was going to drink hers. So why waste a good cup of coffee?"

_Addicted!_

"Whatever," Grace said standing up. "We need breakfast, I'm starving," she pouted rubbing at her grumbling stomach.

The boys chuckled at the sight and Sam agreed to run over to the nice diner for some breakfast. "Be back in ten!" he yelled, slamming the door on his way out.

"Make it five!!" Grace screamed through the closed door, shaking her fists.

"What the hell is with all the racket?!?!" Amanda screamed, hand in the middle of the now open door.

Dean and Grace turned with the whole deer-in-the-headlights look.

"Grace was hungry," Dean simply said, averting his eyes from Amanda's angry glare.

"So she was screaming, why?" Amanda fumed, hands on hips.

"I, uh…Sam said he would be back with breakfast in ten and…I said five?" Grace said, a little nervous and intimidated.

"Gee Grace…how about try opening the door and running out to tell him?" Grace could just picture Amanda tapping her foot on the floor, waiting for an answer.

"Sorry Amanda…" she apologised sheepishly. "I was a little tired and thought that yelling would be easier than walking outside. Guess I should've remembered you were still sleeping, huh?"

"Yup." Amanda nodded before spotting Grace's coffee in her hand. "Where's my coffee?"

At that question, Dean inched forward in Grace's lap and hid his head under the blankets.

"Dean?"

"Oh crap." Shuffling back just a little, he peeked out from under the covers, eyes just barely visible.

Grace giggled at the sight. Here was Mr .Tough Guy, cowering under a huddle of blankets, looking adorably like a little puppy who had just been scolded by its owner.

"Yes, Dean Winchester?" Amanda yelled, although she was very amused and was hiding it.

_Ooh…full name…_

Grace then melted as she heard a cute little whine come out from underneath the covers. Bending down and snaking her head next to Dean's, she gave him a tiny peck on the nose to tell him it would be okay.

"…I accidentally drank your coffee?" he pouted, looking up at Amanda with soft puppy eyes.

Grace nudged his head. _Accidentally, my ass._

"I drank your coffee because I'm addicted?" Dean tried again, looking towards Grace. She nodded.

"Unbelievable," Amanda groaned, jumping onto the bed and attacking Dean.

"Ahh!" Dean screamed as he fell after trying to fight Amanda off which resulted in himself _and _Amanda to roll off the side of the bed.

Landing with a soft thump seeing as Dean was her cushion beneath her, Amanda got on all fours and pushed up into a standing position, wiping the dust off of her.

The slam of the motel room door turned all heads towards Sam who held bags full of Styrofoam containers.

Seeing the bags, Dean quickly shoved Amanda out of the way and ambushed Sam.

"Oooooh!" he squealed like he had done earlier with the coffee. "Food!"

_Coffee, food, sleep, sex. That's all this boy needs._

"Waffles, pancakes, hash browns, bacon, eggs…" Grace looked to Dean as he began looking like he was in extreme pleasure. She was sure he was drooling too.

"Oh, I got coffee Amanda. Dean stole yours."

Amanda thanked Sam as she grabbed it off him. "No stealing now, Dean," she said, waggling her finger at him.

Dean scowled at her while munching on a hash brown in the corner. Amanda simply stuck her tongue out at him and stole a rash of bacon, Dean immediately protesting.

"Dean," Sam warned. "I didn't buy all of this food just for you."

Amanda was sure Dean was going to cry. "…my food…" he pouted.

Sam nodded and threw the bags over to Dean in his protective corner. Grace and Amanda glared at Sam, shocked.

"Don't worry," Sam whispered. "The rest of the food's in the other room."

The girls giggled as they made they way into the room next door. They hurriedly ate all of the food before Dean found out there was more that they didn't share with him.

Luckily, they finished before Dean bounded into the room, hurling himself onto Grace's back.

"Oww!" she whined, flipping him off. Dean rolled off to the bottom of the bed and stayed there, frowning at Grace.

"You're just cruel."

"What? Because you weigh a ton and I can't carry you on my back?!" she yelled, poking him in the gut.

"Gracie!" Dean held his hands protectively over his stomach and swatted her hands away at the same time.

Weaving through his shield, Grace got through and poked him once again, Dean crying out and rolling away from her. Grace grinned in victory.

"Guys…" Sam suddenly announced, hands on his hips and leaning forward.

Once Grace turned around and when Dean, well, rolled over, Sam asked them what they wanted to do.

"Park?" Amanda suggested, shrugging when they all turned to look at her.

"Sounds good." Dean turned to give Grace the what-the-hell-Dean-Winchester-doesn't-go-to-parks look.

"Dean, unless you want to go on another case after we just finished one, we're staying here to chill out," Sam said, giving Dean a choice. Park or case.

"Fine," Dean mumbled, sitting up and pulling on his boots while everyone got dressed.

Dean wore a grey t-shirt with a black button-up on top, Sam wore a short-sleeved red t-shirt, Grace wore a tight black AC/DC top, Amanda wore a bright yellow top over her white one, and all wore jeans.

Holding the door open for everyone to get through, Dean locked the doors and made his way to the impala where everyone was seated.

Stepping his right foot inside, ducking his head and plopping his ass down onto the seat, he looked over at Grace in the passenger seat. "So where's this park of yours?"

"Oh pull out, I'll tell you where to go," she rolled her eyes.

"I'm not letting you tell me where to go. Just tell me where it is and I'll find my way there."

Both women had the same thing screaming in their heads. _Men. _At least Sam was better. He wasn't so controlling.

"No Dean," she teased. She was going to make him listen to her and the two in the back seat knew it too.

"Fine." Dean pulled his keys out of the ignition and leaned back in his seat stubbornly. "Then no park."

Amanda and Sam groaned in the back seat, covering their faces with their hands. _Facepalm._

"Fine…" Grace said, leaning over to the door as if going to get out. "Guess we're working a case."

Dean's eyes widened as he leaned over to the passenger seat and grasped Grace's hand which was now on the door handle.

"No case."

Grace grinned as Dean gave in. _Go me._

"Like I said, pull out of the parking lot Dean." Oh she was going to have fun with this.

Dean nodded, rolling his eyes, and shoved the keys back into the ignition. Hearing the engine purr to life, Dean reversed out of the parking space and then drove straight to the exit.

"Where to now?" Dean asked, peering over at Grace who was leaning her head on the window and blowing steam splotches on the window.

"Left."

Dean muttered an 'okay' before telling her to stop fucking up his window.

Driving through a traffic light, Dean drove his car forward, not receiving further instructions from Grace.

"Turn right," she said sitting up.

Dean did as he was told and ended up getting yelled at by Grace, causing him to swerve the car suddenly before regaining control.

"What?!" he yelled angrily.

"I told you to turn right," she said calmly.

"I did," he gritted out through his teeth.

"I meant before to traffic light."

Dean threw his hands up in the air. "This--this is why I do not let people give me directions or drive me around. Why didn't you tell me before the traffic light, Grace?!"

"…I forgot," she shrugged.

"You forgot? You--"

Dean stared straight ahead as he fumed, doing a U-turn and going back towards the traffic light.

_Oops. Maybe I pushed it, _Grace thought.

Reaching the traffic light and turning left to put them on course, Dean turned to Grace again. "You wanna make sure you tell me when I need to turn?" She nodded. "Good."

The rest of the drive there was filled with silence except for the occasional 'left' or right' from Grace.

Finally arriving and pulling into a small parking small, all four sat not moving.

Sam and Amanda looked at each other thinking, _awkward…_ before both stepping out, hoping the other two would follow suit.

Seconds later after hearing the doors creak, the two let out a breath, happy Dean and Grace weren't killing each other inside.

"Should we be leaving the two alone in the park?" Sam whispered.

"Why? Afraid one of them will kill the other and hide the body where no one will ever find it?" Amanda joked. Sam nodded truthfully.

"No seriously…Dean looks murderous right now."

Amanda turned to look at Mr. Moody and started giggling. _Mr. Giant's scared of Mr. Moody. Hmm._

"Let's go," Amanda said, tugging a resistant Sam along. "Leave them alone, will you!"

Trolling behind Amanda, Sam followed leaving Dean and Amanda behind.

"Sorry Dean," Grace apologised softly, leaning her arms on the roof of the impala.

"S'okay Gracie." Dean rounded the back of the car and walked to stand in front of Grace, hands ringed loosely around her waist.

Leaning into his warmth, Grace leant her head against his strong, muscly chest. She wiggled it around as if trying to find the best spot, causing Dean to chuckle lovingly at her.

"You were up last night…" he whispered into her hair.

She nodded softly. "Yeah, just thinking," she reassured him.

"About"

"Sam."

"You were thinking about Sam?" Dean asked, eyebrows raised. "At night? Babe…I'm offended."

"No…no not like that. Don't worry," she winked. "Why would I ever think about Sam that way when I have you?"

"True," he replied smugly.

Grace decided not to say anymore. She had told him the truth, just not the whole truth. _That's not _exactly _lying…_

"Hmm. But if you were ever to get old and ugly, I might just have to resort to your brother!" Dean's eyebrows furrowed together as a frown set on his face.

"Do you really think I'll be ugly?" he pouted, crossing his arms across his chest self-conscientiously.

"No sweetie," she laughed, shaking her head at him. "I'm just joking. You'll always be pretty." Grace stuck her tongue out at him before kissing him softly on the tip of his nose.

Dean let out a small grunt at being called pretty but eventually smiled after deeming it a worthy title. "Good enough."

Grace grinned at him before grasping his hand in hers and tugging him along.

"Where are you dragging me now?" he chuckled. "Did you feel like having sex in a park, sweetie?"

Grace punched him in the shoulder and continued pulling him along. "No my dear," she started, having a little trouble dragging Dean along. "We are going walking."

"Walking?" Dean asked incredulously. "Walking?! Dean Winchester doesn't do walks, honey."

"He will if he's dating Gracie Lee Alexander!" she yelled, inwardly giggling.

Dean seemed to close his mouth at her statement and reluctantly trudged along behind her.

"Good boy," she praised, reaching to pat him on the head. Dean only scowled at her.

-----------------------------------

"So," Amanda started, rather awkwardly after not having anything too important to say, kicking her foot against the rustling leaves.

"Did you want to talk about last night?" he asked casually.

She shook her head no. "I think we've covered the issue. I think it'll make matters worse if we just keep bringing it up."

Sam nodded, agreeing. "So, you're not mad that I liked Grace, right?"

"No Sam. I'm not mad. I mean, who wouldn't like her," she joked. "I don't care who you've liked. As long as while we're still in this relationship, you don't go off fantasizing about Gracie, then I'm fine with it."

"Sounds like a deal."

Amanda stepped closer to Sam and leaned her head against his arm as they walked along the winding path.

The park was filled with lots of open areas, perfect for weekend outings for families to come out and enjoy themselves. The paths for walking weren't in direct sunlight as the thick canopy of trees blocked most of the light out. There was the occasional ray shining down onto the gravel path, making the whole trail seem fresh and cool.

Sam held her small hand in his as he cradled her frame to the front of him. As they walked, Amanda would lean her head back to lean against his tones chest.

"I love walking," she whispered, completely out of the blue.

Sam took a second to register her sentence but then replied, "Yeah, helps clear my mind whenever I need to."

"Yup." Amanda turned her head slightly, now resting her cheek against him. "You're warm…"

Sam chuckled softly, Grace able to feel it vibrate through his chest. "That's nice…"

"Mhm." Leaning into him more, Amanda breathed in the sweet smell of Sam. He didn't smell like sweat or any other disheartening odour, but smelt clean and fresh - like apples. _Must shower a lot. _

Sam slithered an arm over her shoulder and jerked her head closer to him, teetering them both over the edge of the path on the way and earning himself a hard thump on the stomach.

"Ouch."

Amanda looked up innocently. "What?"

Sam glared. "Don't what me. You know perfectly well what you did."

"Why Sam Winchester, I'm offended you would think such a thing," she smiled sweetly.

"Pshh…sweet my ass!" he yelled, chasing after her through the forest of small trees and shrubs.

Having long legs definitely gave him an advantage and the upper hand. Taking five quick strides compared to Amanda's ten, Sam stopped to stand in front of her, blocking any escape.

Amanda, unfortunately for her, was stuck in between a very tall Sam and a very tall _and _large tree.

"Oh…" came the small whisper, after realising she was trapped.

Sam grinned. "That's right." Looking around as if trapped and looking for an escape route, Sam then turned to look back at her. "Nowhere to go. Oops."

Amanda felt like letting out a small giggle but this was hardly the time.

"Aren't you going to let me go?" she asked nicely with a smile, as if trying to wedge her way out of her…situation.

Sam shook his head in a way that could only be described as smug. "Definitely not."

_Hmmph. Takes two to play hard._

Taking a step forward towards her captor, Amanda rested a soft hand seductively on his chest.

Sam, taking a look down at her hand, swallowed loudly and took a step back.

Not the one to back down from anything she'd started, Amanda took another step towards him and repeated the gesture, this time running it down slowly towards his abdomen.

Snaking in a small intake of air, Sam grasped her wrist and held it a few inches away from him. "Bad girl."

Amanda pouted and shook her head no.

"Yes," Sam scolded. "In public, Amanda. Public." Sam continued shaking his head as if he were very disappointed in her.

Amanda decided to play along with his 'disappointment'. "Sorry Sammy. Won't happen again. Did you want to find a nice secluded place, then?"

Sam smiled at her. "Hmm. Not exactly what I was going for but good enough."

Grabbing his hand and leading him deeper into the trees, Amanda grinned. _Fun, fun._

_------------------------------------------------------_-----------

Dean sighed, leaning his back against a small bench just to the side of the walking path.

"I repeat, I hate walking."

Grace turned to lean against his shoulder, smiling at the comment. Dean scooted over closer, holding her waist.

"Didn't seem like it when we made a pit stop by that tree over there," she said, nodding her head to the area behind them.

Dean smirked. "When have I ever complained about kissing? Hmm?"

"Never," she smiled. "But that's beside the point. You didn't seem to exactly hate it, so there."

Dean frowned a little before nodding in agreeance. "Eh…guess so. I'll come on walks with you more, just as long as there are trees nearby," he winked.

Grace rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She nudged his stomach with her elbow. "Let's get back to walking."

Seeing Grace stand up, Dean grabbed the hem of her t-shirt and pulled in down, effectively bringing Grace along with it.

Shaking his head at her he replied, "No we're staying. I'm not getting up again."

"Such an ass. A lazy ass at that," she sighed.

Dean leant his head down on her shoulder and looked up at Grace. "Yeah…but I'm your lazy ass," he laughed, turning his head down and burying it into the crook of her shoulder, feeling her soft skin and hair on his cheek and nose.

"Guess so." Grace smiled at the thought of Dean, who was still on her shoulder. It was true. He was an ass sometimes but she loved it. She loved every bit of him. Whether it was his bad eating habits. His crazy driving. His crazy sense of humour, or even the arguments they had. She loved it all. Without any of them, Dean wouldn't be, well, Dean.

Grace cradled the back of Dean's head with her hand and brought his forehead against hers. "I love you," she whispered.

Dean smiled against her lips before kissing her. "I love you too." Giving her one last peck, he pulled back. "Don't tell Sam I ever said that." Grace laughed. Damn him.

"Oh don't worry. I won't ruin your kickass reputation," she smirked.

"Oh no. I don't care about that. I could really care less if people think I'm a softie," he assured her. Dean normally would have been reluctant to be this touchy-feely and open in public, but when he was with Grace, he kind of forgot about all of that. She brought out this other, strange, side to him, and he had to admit, it wasn't at all that bad. "I just don't want Sammy to tease me. We'll wait till him and Amanda get all mushy and then we'll rub it in at motels and all."

Grace shut her eyes and shook her head laughing at her boyfriend's reasoning. "Fair enough."

_Woof!_

The couple turned away from each other to finally notice their surroundings and its occupants.

Scanning the large area, the two noticed the large amount of dogs running out in the open and playing catch with their owners.

"Dean…" Grace started, looking at a cute German Shepherd chasing after an orange ball.

"Hmm?" he replied, not really paying attention.

"Can we get a dog?"

Dean sat up to look at Grace, raising an eyebrow at the sudden suggestion.

"You want a dog?" he asked. Grace nodded. "Why? They suck! They're useless. Do you see them cooking dinner for their owners, I don't think so!" Grace sighed at Dean. _Men._ "Oh. And they do their business everywhere! Seriously! I'm not letting a dirty old mutt in my baby! And you have to feed them…and make sure they don't get dehydrated and just die! Oh and then there's the whole case where they could go all psycho on you and just attack! Dogs while hunting, I don't think so Gracie!"

Grace frowned at Dean's long rant and the prospect of not owning a dog of her own. Dean noted the silence and peered over at her. He frowned at seeing her sad expression and hugged her tightly.

"Sorry Gracie…I'm just not a very big fan of dogs you know. Kind of get on my nerves," he admitted, hoping for forgiveness.

"I know Dean, I just really like them. They're loyal, friendly, cuddly, and just great. I mean, after getting them toilet-trained they'd be fine. Food and water in exchange for a great friend, I'm fine with that," she smiled.

"We'll see." Dean kissed Grace on the temple and leaned back. Just because he didn't like dogs all that much, didn't mean they couldn't have one. Grace liked them so, why should he be stopping her?

Not too long after Dean's speech, an old woman with a small, white pug came walking down the path towards the pair.

"Hehehe…" Dean almost giggled after seeing the adorable puppy walking towards them. It had pudgy little legs and it seemed the old woman had placed a small blue ribbon on the top of its head.

"Young man!" a croaky voice brought out of his thoughts. "What are you giggling at?"

"I wasn't giggl--"

"Uh, uh, uh," she scolded, waving a small cane around as if she planned on hitting Dean on the head with it. "Don't lie to me, boy!"

Dean sat back, astounded at the fact he was being yelled at by a granny who would topple over soon enough.

"Were you laughing at Mr. Sniffles here?" she asked, gesturing to the puppy.

"Mr. Sniffles?" Dean hardly got out. He hid his face behind his hands, damn near close to giggling.

"Yes, do you have a problem with that?" she asked, tapping the ground with the cane.

"No…no of course not," he said, trying to look serious. "I was just wondering why an old, I mean why a woman your…age would bother looking after a dog. _You're probably having trouble looking after yourself at this point._

"Why…" the woman started, obviously very offended. Grace sat back on the edge of the bench, chuckling about the whole situation. _Go Dean. Way to score some brownie points. _"I can look after Mr. Sniffles! He's the sweetest little thing. You obviously don't understand that!"

With the last remark, the woman trudged off, little pug in tow.

Dean felt Grace whack him in the shoulder. "Those snide comments of yours, Dean Winchester, will get you into a lot of trouble one day."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Yeah right, I'm Dean Winchester. Nothing ever happens to me."

Grace snorted in disbelief. "Which is why you're totally invincible, Dean," she said sarcastically.

"I know."

_Way to stroke his ego, Grace._ Grace mentally slapped herself for making such a comment. "Oh shut up…I was being sarcastic. You're not invincible and I have proof!"

Dean looked at her, 'challenge' plastered all over his face. "Oh yeah? What's that?"

Grace lifted up Dean's shirt and buried her head underneath it.

Dean jumped up in surprise before settling down. "What kind of proof is that Gracie? Only thing you're proving is that you're not afraid to get me naked in public," he mused, rubbing her hair through the thin fabric.

Grace popped her head from under his shirt and looked up at him. "Scars."

"Huh?" he asked, confused.

"Scars," she repeated. "You have scars which show you're not invincible."

Dean rolled his eyes, denying defeat. "Whatever."

Peeking her head under his shirt again, Grace began licking and nipping at the small scars she found by moving her lips over his velvety skin, feeling for the lumps and inconsistency of the smoothness.

Once again, he jumped but not had a hard time relaxing. "Jesus Gracie," Dean yelped, as Grace had just licked a scar very close to his lower regions. "You seriously want to do that in public? People might think you're doing something much naughtier you know," he commented, looking down. _I wonder what people must think…_

"Mmmm…" Grace ignored him and continued with her actions. She didn't care at all what people thought she was doing. She wasn't and that was all that mattered. Although…if she did _that _then she wouldn't mind that much anyway. Public? Meh.

"Okie dokie…" Dean grabbed Grace's neck and pulled her back up to his eye-level. "No more licking and biting. As much as I enjoy it, we should go," he said, stretching. Grace pouted. "And no complaints!"

Sighing in defeat, Grace followed Dean to where he was currently walking.

"Where do you think the other two got to, huh?"

-----------------------------

"Sam!" Amanda giggled, hiding herself behind his large chest.

"Stop moving," he grinned, hovering over her in a push-up position. "I can't kiss you if you keep moving, y'know."

Amanda continued wriggling until Sam pinned her down and forcefully kissed her. No complaints from her, that's for sure.

Rustling from the bushes motivated Sam to grasp his shirt from under Amanda.

Turning around, he groaned loudly after seeing Dean and Grace appear. _Just great._

"Oh…hey Sammy," Dean smirked, nudging Grace who followed.

"Err…hey," Sam replied awkwardly, pulling the shirt over his head, mussing his already-mussed-up hair.

Grace smiled at Amanda. "Nice to know you two are getting along so…well."

"Yeah, yeah," Sam rolled his eyes and jumped onto his feet, pulling Amanda up with him.

"Do I want to know what you two were doing?" Dean sniggered.

_We weren't doing what _you _thought, obviously… _"Just kissing," Sam replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Right. With your shirt off," Dean mused, nodding his head over towards previously topless Sam.

Sam glared at him and stomped off onto the path, Amanda quickly following. "Don't worry," she said softly, "he's not mad."

---------------------------------

After piling up into the impala, Dean rolled down the windows to let some fresh air in. They had been at the park for a little over an hour and the hot air was beginning to make the car stuffy.

"Eww Dean," Sam said scrunching up his face in disgust. "Why must you have leather seats?! It's summer man!"

Grace and Dean rolled their eyes. "You just don't appreciate the good old muscle cars, Sammy!" they both chimed in unison, looking at each other and laughing.

"Pshh…whatever. More like ancient," Sam groaned, separating himself and the seat by lifting his body up as far as it would go. Hey, give him a break. Man's as tall as a building.

Dean leant back over the seat and gave Sam a good hard whack on the head.

Sam let out a yelp and began rubbing his forehead with the palm of his hand, pout plastered on his face throughout all of it.

"Don't hit Sam!" Amanda yelled, poking the back of Dean's head rather harshly.

"Ouch…" he whined, grabbing his head. "What was that for?" Damn him and his innocent look.

"Oh you know very well what you did, Dean Winchester!" Amanda scolded. Somehow, it seemed like Dean shrunk down in his seat. Grace giggled.

"Aww…is my baby getting told off?" Dean nodded meekly, still slunk low in his seat. "Looks like someone needs a hug!"

Leaning over towards Dean, Grace wrapped her arms around his waist and leant her head against his right arm, giving it a small kiss before replacing it back to its original position.

Dean smiled at her and moved his right arm to settle down on her waist, dragging her up his body so her face was now on his neck, body pressed up to his side.

"So where are we headed to next?" Dean asked, now comfortable.

Sam and Amanda shrugged. "Maybe we should head over to the supermarket. We're running kind of low on supplies."

Dean nodded and twisted the key into the ignition, firing up the engine. Stepping on the accelerator, Dean sped out of the car park and made his way to the store near their motel.

Arriving at the shopping centre, the four got out to be met with tons of people swarming the area. It had taken them almost half an hour to find a parking space after some dick stole theirs. The rest of the time was spent driving around the car park, only to find the spaces were either non-parking zones or getting taken up by people who had found them first.

"Wow."

Sam, Amanda and Grace nodded.

"How long did that take?" Dean groaned. Fixing up his shirt which must have been crumpled from the car seat and Grace, Dean began walking to the front entrance with her.

As soon as Dean was out of earshot, Sam started mumbling to Amanda. "Stickiest ride ever."

"Wasn't that bad sweetie," Amanda said playfully, poking Sam in the stomach. "And stop walking so fast! Gosh, you have such long legs!"

Sam looked back - yes, looked back - to see Amanda struggling to keep up the pace. "Oops." He then began walking slower so Amanda wouldn't have such a hard time. He's nice you know…

"Thanks Sammy." Sam smiled and picked her up, throwing Amanda's upper half over his shoulder.

"Guess you don't have to walk now," he smirked.

_Nice view… _Amanda thought.

Stepping inside the air-conditioned supermarket, Sam finally grabbed Amanda by the waist and set her gently on the linoleum floor.

Steadying herself on her feet after being airborne for such a long period of time, Amanda gave Sam a hard pinch.

Sam didn't even protest. He knew he deserved it but hey, it was well worth it.

--------------------------------

Looking around the ceiling at the hanging signs, Dean and Grace skimmed the words for the medical isle. Spotting it at seven, the two quickly turned into the located isle.

"So what did we need?" Dean asked, walking up and down.

"Well we're gonna need all the stuff we use for stitching. We've almost used it all up." Dean nodded.

Going to the bandaging area, Dean picked out a few boxes of bandages and rolls of gauze. Moving onto the liquids, he snatched up a bottle of peroxide and a bag of cotton balls. Walking just a little further, he threw boxes of Panadol and Tylenol in as well.

"We don't need the thread do we?" Dean asked, walking towards Grace with everything in a red basket.

She shook her head. "We should have enough of that."

"Come on, let's go fetch the other two and see what else we want."

The two exited the isle and began looking around. Seeing a glimpse of a soft brown lump, they ran towards isle ten.

"Hey Sam," Grace waved frantically.

He turned around to look at her suspiciously. "Hey…"

"How'd you know he was here?" Dean asked, a little confused.

"How didn't I know?" Grace joked before getting serious. "Saw that big tuft of hair, Dean."

Sam patted his hair self-consciously and looked down at Amanda as if she could help.

"What?" she asked, shrugging.

"Help me…" _Shrug. _"Oh fine. I'm being bullied and my own girlfriend won't help."

"I'm not bullying you sweetie," Grace laughed, placing a hand on his arm. "Just telling Dean how tall you are. Poor thing didn't seem to notice it before!" She stepped back and nudged Dean in the arm.

"Haha okay then," Sam said awkwardly.

"Did you guys want anything else? Grace and I finished getting stuff for the medical kit."

"I guess we could get some food and other accessories for the road," Sam suggested.

"Ooh we're so getting peanut M&Ms!" Dean shouted, quickly spotting the candy isle and grabbing approximately ten bags, dropping them into the shopping basket.

"We need Starburst!" Grace took off behind Dean and snatched different varieties, letting them join the M&Ms.

"Children," Sam whispered, causing Amanda to snicker.

"I need a new toothbrush, mine died," she said sadly. Sam laughed. "What?"

"Died?" he asked, still laughing.

"Yes Sam. Died. You should see my brush. It's gone all crazy…like science experiment gone wrong, crazy!!" she screamed dramatically.

Sam pushed her to the right isle, letting her pick out what she needed. Amanda plucked a blue and pink toothbrush from the shelf and handed it to Sam.

"Oh I need some hair gel. And a new hairbrush. Maybe some hair ties? Oh, definitely some make-up. Foundation and lip gloss has run out…"

Sam sighed loudly. "Guess Sam will be fetching another basket."

"Good boy," Amanda grinned, raiding the shelves for her desired objects.

Returning with a basket seconds later, Sam held id beside Amanda for her to throw everything in. By the time they were done, it was full, objects almost toppling out and over the edge.

Holding the bottom of the basket with both hands as it had become quite heavy, Sam walked over to where he saw Dean, Amanda following.

"Jesus, what did you guys buy?!?!" Dean asked, leaning off the chest full of things, eyeing their basket.

"Err…Amanda needed…stuff," Sam said, awkwardly.

Dean nodded, sarcastic look on his face. "Right…Amanda _needed _all of this. What the-- What is this?!" Dean asked, holding up a big pink glove with tons of holes in it.

"It's an exfoliating glove, Dean." Amanda stepped towards him and plucked the glove out of his hands, along with everything else he had gotten his hands on.

The four walked up to the counter where they dumped the contents of the two baskets onto the belt.

The young woman behind the counter sighed and began shovelling through all of their purchases, swiping and bagging each one.

"That's $65.80," she said, hand out. She didn't appear to be very interested in the job, although she kept eyeing Dean. Grace obviously wasn't too happy with that.

Dean's eyes popped out after hearing the cost. _God, what did you buy, Amanda?! _"Take Visa?" he asked. The girl nodded. Reaching into his back pocket and fumbling around for his wallet, Dean slid out one of his fake credit cards and handed it to the woman who took it happily, making sure to touch Dean's hand in the process.

Thumbing in the digits, the woman printed out the receipt for Dean to sign and they were all good to go. Sam picked up the shopping bags and they walked briskly away.

"That bitch…" Grace mumbled. Dean stopped to stand by her as they loaded the bags into the trunk.

"What's wrong, Gracie?" he asked, placing his hands on her waist and leaning back so they were eye level.

"Stupid girl checking you out," she laughed softly at herself.

Dean chuckled at Grace, pulling her close to him. "Don't worry," he whispered, pushing a strand of loose hair behind her ear yet again. "Ain't no check-out girl gonna pull me away from such a beautiful thing like you."

Grace felt her heart melt from his words and snuggled her head deeper into his warm chest, wiggling it around to get comfortable.

"Mmmm…" Dean looked down at Grace to see her smiling against him.

"Come on honey, let's go." Placing a hand on the small of her back, Dean opened the door - like a gentleman - and guided Grace into the passenger seat before closing it behind her, making his way to the driver's side.

"Great," Sam deadpanned sarcastically, leaning back in his seat disinterestedly. "Another _fun _day at the motel."

"Glad to see you're so enthusiastic, Sam." Dean replied, looking up and throwing his head back towards Sam's general direction.

"Whatever," came his mutter.

"Alright, take us home baby." Dean revved the engine before stepping on the gas and peeling out onto the open road, speeding back to their motel.

_One Minute Later_

"Oh Jesus," Sam panted. "Who the _hell _taught you to drive?!" Sam lifted his arms into the air and began pacing madly as Grace and Amanda got out.

"No one," shrugged Dean, stepping out of the car and adjusting his clothes.

"No--No one?!" The three could've sworn they saw Sam's eyes pop out of their sockets at one stage.

"Nah, I'm joking. I taught myself…but then dad fixed up my, err…skills, a little and we were all set." Dean grinned as if he was somehow proud of himself.

Sam stepped closer to Dean, spreading out his arms like a bird. "You do have a legit license…right?" she asked nervously. _Have I seriously been riding along with _him?!

"Of course Sam," Dean chuckled. "Wouldn't ever put my baby in such danger." Slamming the door closed quietly, he patted the roof of the car lovingly.

_Gee Dean, did you want to marry it? _Grace thought. _I bet he'd correct me to say 'her'. Phht._

Grace rolled her eyes before the two girls dragged their men into one of the rooms.

"So not cool, Amanda…" Sam whined, falling back onto the pillow, sighing loudly.

"I know Sam," Amanda said, rubbing circles on his chest.

Amanda lay in the crook of Sam's arm, resting her head on his shoulder, his chin on her head.

"Can something decent _not _be on tv right now?" Sam took his unoccupied hand and covered his face with it, once again sighing.

"Hmm…let's go to sleep," Amanda suggested, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder.

Sam sighed, _again. _"Fine, whatever. It's not like there's anything better to do."

Cuddling Amanda in closer, wrapping his arms tightly around her, the two fell peacefully asleep.

_On the second bed_

"Ugh, we're not going to sleep are we?" Dean growled in a gruff voice.

Grace shook her head. "Of course not." She smiled. "I can think of _much _better things to be spending my time doing…"

Dean grinned, dragging her up to straddle his waist. "Oh? Is that so?"

"Mhm…" Grace trailed off as she bent down to cover his neck in butterfly and open-mouthed kisses, Dean moaning softly, enjoying the attention.

"Yum," he groaned, flipping her over so that she was underneath him. Smiling down at her, he began moving his hips on hers enticingly. Grace bit down on her lip at the action, even though it was only a few soft pushes.

Dean began kissing her neck the same way she had him, before Grace placed a hand on his head to stop his administrations.

"Wait." Dean stopped and looked up into her hazel eyes. "Next door," she whispered.

Dean nodded and picked her up, carrying her over to their own room before quietly shutting the door, as not to wake the other couple.

Placing her gently on their bed, he crawled to lie beside her.

"Now where were we…" he said so quietly he wasn't sure if Grace had heard.

Luckily, she did. Rolling over to be nearly fully on top of him, Grace rested a palm against his chest. "Hmm…maybe here?" she said cheekily, cocking an eyebrow.

Dean shook his head stubbornly. "Nope. Definitely not. I was on top," he grinned. Grace sat up, pouting.

"Why do you always get the honour? What makes you so special?" she scowled, although she really wasn't mad. It was just fun to tug on Dean's strings.

Dean looked at her, speechless. "Umm…" He looked around the room, trying to think of what to say. _I got nothing… _"Err, I'm the guy? So…I get to be on top?" Dean stumbled through his sentence, changing whatever he was going to say every time Grace decided to glare particularly harder at him.

"Right. So you think you should be on top just because you're a guy?" she asked, as if she was deeply offended.

"No! No." Dean held up his hands as if either to calm her down or to surrender. "It's just that--No. You can be on top if you like," he said quickly, not sure if she was going to bite his head off or not. _I would like to be in one piece by the end of this… _Deciding to shut up, he slunk down low in the bed, sliding down so the bottom half of his face were covered.

"Hmm. Fine. You better not complain about always bottoming then, Dean." Dean nodded immediately, afraid he would infuriate her. As soon as he stopped his rapid movements, Grace began giggling quietly, covering her mouth with her hand as if it would mask the sound.

"What are you laughing about?" Dean asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

"Err, nothing?" she answered smiling, going for the cute factor.

"Not gonna work, Alexander." Grace groaned as Dean flipped them over, so he was, again, on top.

"Hey!" she yelled, slapping him harshly on the arm. "Just because I was joking about being mad, doesn't mean I don't want to be on top!"

Dean looked a little frightened at her tone so slowly and softly, rolled back over onto his back, bringing Grace along to sit on top.

"That's better," she grinned. Grace fingered the hem of Dean's shirt and pulled it off, tossing it into a far corner. Dean looked down at her fingers which lingered around his abdomen, making his muscles seem to flutter.

"Auugh…" he groaned, pulling her hand away. Using both arms, he discarded Grace's top and jeans, pulling them both under the covers.

"The fun begins…" she smiled, pulling Dean's neck down to capture his lips in a fierce kiss.

--------------------------------

The next morning, Grace woke up naked, to find her head resting on something soft.

"Mmm…not bad Winchester, not bad." Grace raised her arms above her head and stretched, arching her back off the mattress.

Hearing no reply from Dean, she continued. "Damn…I knew you were good Dean but, didn't know you were _that_ good." Grace smiled at the memory of the previous night.

Dean's beautiful green eyes. His freckled nose. His pouty and absolutely kissable pink lips. His soft, brown, spiky hair. His lean neck. His strong and shaped arms. Those wonderful muscled pecs and toned abs. His lean calves. And who could forget the front and back? Perfect. He was all perfect. And he was all hers…

Rolling over to kiss her lover good morning, she was surprised to see a small lump in the bed.

"Must've gone for breakfast or coffee," she murmured, looking at the figure under the covers of which she assumed was just a pillow.

Turning away from the pillow, she rolled and swivelled her legs over the side of the bed, feet touching the soft carpet.

_Woof!_

Grace was puzzled, as she turned around. Creasing her forehead, she looked for the source of the sound.

_Woof!_

"The pillow?" she whispered to herself.

Walking around the bed to the other side, Grace gripped the corner of the comforter. Quickly pulling it back and dropping it at the end of the bed, she was met with a small white Labrador, looking up at her with amazingly beautiful eyes.

_Woof! Woof!_

"Dean?"

-----------------------------------


	10. Woof! Woof!

"Dean?"

Grace edged slowly towards the tiny puppy which currently lay in the bed where Dean was supposed to be.

Dropping down on her knees as if to seem less intimidating, she slid a hand across the covers, palms facing up, towards it.

The puppy let out a soft whine before cowering down into the blankets, its tiny head resting on its soft paws.

"Hey sweetie," Grace whispered, moving her hand closer while edging onto the bed. "Don't be scared...it's just me."

The puppy didn't move and stayed in its current position, soft eyes looking up at her vulnerably.

Deciding she needed to reassure him, Grace sat down fully on the bed right ahead of the small lump in the covers.

Reaching out a hand, she began softly stroking the puppy over the covers. The puppy whined and tried to shrink back at first, but Grace continued her actions and the puppy began calming down slowly. Moving her hand further up, Grace stroked the puppy yet again, but this time, taking the blankets with the movement.

Flinging the blanket down the other end of the bed, Grace looked at the puppy which sat in a small pile near Dean's pillow. She put her hands out in front of her and spread them out. Reluctantly, the puppy began moving forward, eventually sitting down on her outspread hands.

Grace mentally 'awww'ed at how cute the puppy was. It had soft, white fur which covered its entire body, making it look like a small, playful ball of fluff. It had gorgeous brown eyes which the slightest bit of green in them, a wet, black nose that was just adorable, and a pink tongue that barely hung out of its mouth. Also, it had the cutest little tail that seemed to rise up and wiggle a little after not being afraid of the woman.

"Hey Dean..." Grace said softly, not wanting to make any sudden loud noises or fast movements.

_Woof!_

Dean crawled up further in her hand and began happily lapping at the vein on her wrist. Grace giggled at pulled away, replacing her hands seconds later.

Putting both hands on Dean's midsection, Grace lifted him up and into her arms where she cradled him.

Leaning back onto the pillows, she set Dean down on her chest, letting him move around on her. Eventually, Dean ended up standing on his hind legs, resting his two paws gently on her breasts which weren't completely covered because of her tank top.

Feeling his small nails on such a sensitive area, Grace instinctively wiggled around to lessen the pressure, causing Dean to lose his grip and slip, small paws moving to fall in the valley of her breasts while the rest of him, fell down onto her stomach.

Hearing a small whine of protest from Dean, Grace picked him back up, settling him in his earlier position.

_Yay! How come I never get to do this as a guy..._

Nuzzling his muzzle into her chest, Dean rested his small head on her, gently nipping at the skin there, causing Grace to jump a little. Once again, Dean slipped and landed on her lap with a yelp.

"Come on Dean," Grace said, picking him up and standing. "Let's go next door."

Supporting Dean's frame in one hand, Grace turned the door knob with the other, stepping inside Sam and Amanda's room.

Spotting them both asleep, she placed Dean gently down on the floor for him to roam around before walking towards the bed.

Gently shaking Sam's shoulder, she heard a quiet groan before the giant rolled over, snaking an arm over his face to block out the unfriendly morning light.

"Hmm?" he asked, wanting to go back to sleep.

"Dean."

Sam blinked open one eye and removed his hand. "What? What about Dean? Is he okay?" he asked, quickly sitting up, alarmed.

Grace didn't really know what to say. "No. Wait yes. He's okay. He's not hurt or anything, he's just...different."

Sam cocked a tired brow in confusion, not understanding where she was going. "Different?"

Grace just nodded and gestured behind her to where she had left Dean.

Sam looked at her expectantly. "What am I supposed to be seeing? I don't see anything."

Quickly turning around, Grace's eyes landed on the empty space where she had left Dean. "Crap."

Striding across the room, Grace's eyes swept the entire room, searching for the small puppy.

Not seeing anything at first, Grace checked again, this time catching sight of a small fluff of white underneath the other bed.

Getting down on all fours and crawling, Grace reached the bed, ducking her head under the mattress.

"Hey sweetie...can you come out? You want to see Sam, don't you?" she said softly, talking to the fragile puppy who looked at her from in the darkness.

Dean whimpered quietly before slowly and cautiously inching forward on its tiny paws towards her.

Smiling down at him, Grace gently picked him up, leaving his cute hind legs to dangle in the air before letting them rest on her forearm after getting him into a comfortable position.

"Uhh Grace? What's the mutt doing in here?"Sam asked, confused at why she wanted him to look at a dog at such an early hour. She said there was something was wrong with Dean. Nothing about a dog.

"_Fuck you Sam!!!!!" _was what Dean had tried to say but it came out more like a howl/bark/wail and a mad thrashing of the legs.

Grace struggled to keep Dean's crazy frame in her arms, so she opted to put him on the floor where he wouldn't hurt himself. Too bad the same thing couldn't b said for Sam.

As soon as Dean's paws hit the carpet, he ran for Sam, growling loudly.

Thankfully, Grace was able to intercept the attack before any real damage was done.

"What the hell, Grace?!?! That little devil just tried to eat me!" Sam yelled, edging away from the dog which suddenly looked menacing.

"Sam. For one, that is _not _a little devil – well, not that way anyway. Secondly, that's Dean!"

Sam turned to look at Grace skeptically. "What?" He looked at the tiny puppy again, tilting his head in several angles, trying to picture his brother. Finally, she creased his eyebrows and shook his head, trying to rid himself of the disturbing images.

"I said...it's Dean." Grace held the puppy up in front of her, encouraging Sam to take a hold of him. He awkwardly denied, putting his hands ahead of himself to stop Dean from getting any closer, so Grace ended up shoving Dean in his hands, forcing Sam to hold on.

"Whoa jeez," Sam nearly dropped his older brother after he was shoved into his hands so abruptly. Getting his grip on the puppy, Sam brought it up against his chest, giving it full support. "Are you serious, Grace? Dean?" Sam looked down to inspect the puppy, looking into its light brown and green eyes. Dean responded by looking adorably up at Sam, little dimples appearing and letting his tongue poke out while panting softly.

Sam couldn't help but melt after seeing his brother smile up at him and cock his head to the side as if he was confused.

"Cute, isn't he?" Grace asked, briefly crossing her arms over her chest and stepping closer towards Sam, stroking Dean from the top of his head to his bottom.

"Yeah..." he admitted quietly, joining Grace in patting.

_Mwoof! "Stop fawning over me, you two!"_

The two looked down at Dean who seemed to be pouting sadly and barking in protest.

"Guess Dean doesn't like this extra attention, hey Sammy?" Grace smirked, nudging Sam in the arm.

Sam snorted giving Dean a soft poke.

Mmfff! "_Oww, you little bitch!"_ Dean scowled up at Sam, ready to bite off a finger. Or two.

"Oh calm down, miss drama queen." Sam rolled his eyes, putting Dean in a new position on his chest.

_Rowwwrrrr!_ "_Miss drama queen, MY ASS!"_

"Sam?" Amanda sat up in her bed, rubbing away the sleep in her eyes. Opening them to see what was going on, she quickly shut them to block out the blinding light that immediately entered.

Grace walked over to the curtains where she harshly pulled them together to save Amanda from the horrible evil people liked to call morning.

"Thanks Grace." Amanda now safely opened her eyes to look at Sam. Seeing a small lump in his arms, she swung her legs over the side and wobbled over to him. Standing directly in front of Sam, she leant forward to see what he was holding. "A--a puppy?"

Amanda looked up at Sam, confused. Sure, Sam was caring and loving but a dog? Where did that come from?

"Err...Dean," Sam commented, scratching the nape of his head awkwardly.

Amanda looked at Sam, confused. "Dean? Did you just call me Dean?" Amanda cocked her head to the side, looking at Sam as if he had grown three heads. "Are you okay Sam?" She placed a head on his head, checking for a fever or some other deformity, before pulling it back after finding nothing wrong. "You're acting a little strange..."

Sam shook his head, softly laughing to himself. "No, this... This is Dean." Sam smiled, almost smugly, placing Dean on the floor once more who began running around in circles.

Amanda looked down amused and pointing to the puppy while asking, "That's Dean?" She smirked, scratching the bottom of her nose with her fingernail, before crossing her arms.

Sam and Grace both nodded. "Yup...Dean."

Placing a manicured hand over her mouth, Amanda giggled, trying not to draw any attention to herself from Dean. But oh no, he heard. He had great ear as a hunter, but being a dog? Can't get anything past him then!

_Ruff!!!! "Are you laughing at me?!?!?!"_

Dean lunged at Amanda, lightly nipping on her toes, causing her to jump back up into Sam's arms in surprise.

Even as she lay suspended in the air by Sam, Dean continued bouncing on his paws, trying to lick and bite her feet.

"Ouch...Dean! Stop it!" Amanda pouted, mustering up the most pathetic and sad face she could. Puppy!Dean stopped, frowning as he sat down gently on his bottom, looking up at the three innocently.

"Good boy," Grace whispered, collecting him all up in her arms and patting him softly on the head, Dean leaning into her warmth, whining in satisfaction. "He's just adorable," she mouthed at Sam and Amanda before bending to kiss Dean on his soft wet nose to which he happily barked at. Even as a dog he still enjoyed attention from his favourite girl.

After the three were all over the newer and cuter version of Dean, he began whimpering after a few minutes.

They quickly pulled away, thinking they had hurt him. Seeing no look of pain crossing his face, they saw a look of sadness and need instead.

"What's the matter sweetie?" Grace took Dean from the other two and carried him over to the bed where she sat down, swinging her legs over the side to prop herself up on the pillows. Pressing tiny kisses along the top of his head, she stood him up on his legs, paws resting on his breasts like he had done earlier.

_Woof!_ _Woof! "I'm hungry, Grace."_

Grace sighed sadly, not knowing what he wanted or needed.

"Has he eaten yet? He might be hungry or thirsty," Sam thought, walking towards the bed and sitting down, taking Amanda with him on his lap.

"_Go Sammy, knew I kept you around for something."_

Grace looked down to see Dean smiling up at her, small teeth peeking out from the corners where his pink tongue wasn't covering.

"Food it is then." Smiling at the fact they had figured it out, Grace then frowned after a thought suddenly struck her. "Uhh, what is he going to eat? It's not like we can give him human food, poor thing might get sick." She stroked his head with her thumb, trying to calm and soothe the small puppy down. "And I don't think little Deanie here will appreciate eating a plop of crap from a tin can."

_Whow row arrr! "That's right, babe. No way I'm eating that crap! Burger!"_

"Well," Amanda started, leaning back into Sam's chest. "He's gotta eat something."

Sam nodded. "You think he'll be okay with eating KFC?" Dean barked happily.

"KFC it is."

---------------------------------

"Mmm...Did you like that babe? Nice piece of juicy chicken, hey? You should be lucky that guy at the door loved my rack and let us take you in," Grace joked, rolling her eyes.

Dean, of course, did not appreciate the comment and voiced it by howling and thrashing around.

"Hey, hey! I'm kidding! God, take it easy, will you?" Dean visibly calmed down in her arms, slouching down, chin resting on her forearm lazily.

"Grace?" Sam's voice caused her to look up at him while they were walking around the corner towards the impala.

"Hmm?" she responded, looking back down quickly after feeling Dean shift. He'd bite her head off if she dropped him.

"We have to get him a leash or something...you can't carry him around everywhere. I'm sorry to say but you're not Paris with her beloved Chihuahua," Sam told her, amused. Dean on a leash. Oh wouldn't that be a sight to see. Amanda giggled beside him, slipping her arm through his so they were joined as they walked.

Grace, on the other hand, didn't look so amused. "Don't be mean guys...you'll hurt his little feelings!" Grace then cracked a grin. "We wouldn't want a temperamental Labrador on our asses, now would we?"

Sam scoffed. "Yeah right. I'd like to see Dean take down a _cat _in the state he's in."

Dean began growling at Sam from in Grace's arms, lashing out his paws to try and scratch his little, not so friendly, brother.

Sam laughed out loud at Dean's feeble attempts, stepping back and throwing his head back, swatting Dean's paw away from himself playfully.

_Roww! "Oww! Sam! That hurt..."_

Grace looked down to see Dean cradling and licking his right paw, leaving it dangling downwards, maybe in pain?

"Oh no," she breathed out, holding his paw, pulling a small cry from the puppy. "I'm so sorry baby..." Grace frowned at the hurt puppy which was her boyfriend. Sam had hurt his paw and she had just gone to make it even worse.

"Shit Dean, I'm so sorry," Sam apologised, stroking Dean's head to make him feel better. "I guess I should be more careful with you, now shouldn't I?"

When Dean whined softly, they could tell that he accepted their apologies. Now was the matter of his injured paw.

"Dean? Is your paw okay? Does it hurt real badly? Or is it just a little sting that'll heal by itself?"

When Dean didn't answer, Amanda rolled her eyes. "Jesus, did you expect him to answer?"

Sam raised his eyebrows as if he was confused, before letting them fall back down after what she said had registered through his mind. "Right. Okay Dean, one bark for badly hurt and two barks for just a sting," he said, going eye level with the puppy, which must've been an awkward position. Sammy would almost be on the floor by then...

_Woof! Woof!_

"Alright," Grace breathed out thankfully, "he's okay. Phew."

"So anyways," Sam said crossing his arms and changing the topic, "Dean needs a collar. I don't care what he says or what he does, but Dean is getting a collar."

Dean slumped down in Grace's hold and pouted up at Sam.

"No Dean," Sam got out in a stern tone, "I told you, nothing you say or do will change what I said. You. Are. Getting. A. Collar."

Grace nearly laughed at the fact that Sam had just told off his older brother. When Dean turned to look up at her almost glaringly, she quietened down and turned away from his glaze, although he was still a tiny puppy.

"Come on Dean," she said softly. "Let's go get a nice collar, hey? We can get a nice black one for you so you can scare away the other puppies," Grace laughed, patting him on the head.

Sam shook his head in the background. "Sure you don't want a nice frilly pink one, Dean? It would suit you, you know..."

Dean turned away from Sam, burying his soft head into the crook of Grace's elbow.

_Hmmph! "Stupid Sam..."_

Grace walked in front of Sam and Amanda as she made her way towards the pet store she spotted just ahead. Avoiding potholes and fire hydrants, they made it there without any trouble.

Amanda stepped inside after Grace when Sam held the door open for her. _Gentleman. _He, although, felt bad for what he did to Dean. He was a little puppy after all...

Winding through several aisles, the three finally spotted a whole shelf of brightly coloured collars on the far end of the store.

Turning one corner, Grace reached the collars first and headed towards the darker section.

"Which one do you want babe? I'm guessing you're not into...fluoro," she almost spat out, crinkly her nose at it, "or little collars with...bows on them." Grace turned away from the collars, disgusted that people would make their poor pets wear them.

_Ruff! "Black!" Wuff wuff! "Ooh spikes!"_

"_What, Dean?" Grace stepped closer towards the shelf so Dean could point at the one he wanted. When Dean pawed at the black collar with tiny silver spikes lining up the centre of it, Grace laughed. "Good boy," she said, stroking his head before grabbing the collar off the shelf. _

_Walking just down the aisle, she picked up a black leash to go along with the collar before turning towards where the counter should have been._

"Excuse me," a male voice said.

Grace looked up to see she had walked into a man in his early thirties who was looking irritatedly at her.

"Oh sorry," she quickly apologised, talking a step back, looking around a little awkwardly. "Didn't see you there..."

"It's okay," he said, annoyed. "Anyways, that's not the point."

Grace cocked her head at him, confused, before the man rudely continued

"We do not allow visitors to bring animals on our premises," he said somewhat snottily.

Sam scoffed loudly, and he was sure Dean did too. Dogs scoff? Huh. That's new.

"You don't allow animals in your store?" Sam repeated, just to make sure. The annoying man nodded. "You do realise this is a pet store right..."

The man sighed loudly. "Yes I know. We sell pet accessories but we don't sell actual pets."

"So what!" Amanda yelled, poking him in the shoulder. "Why are you working in a pet store if you're so against animals?!"

He rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Dunno, but whatever. Get the little pigface outta here." Lifting his nose up at them, he turned around quickly and walked away, getting back to whatever shit he was up to before.

"Unbelievable," Grace sighed, running her left hand through her hair as her right was supporting a currently angry Dean. "You guys take Dean and I'll go pay for this."

Seeing the two nod, she carefully transferred Dean into Amanda's welcoming arms before heading towards the man from before. _Idiot. Absolutely idiot._

"Hello?" she asked, tapping the man on the shoulder so he turned around to face her.

"Yes? How can I help you?" he replied, annoyed he was being interrupted.

"Well one," she started lifting a finger. "Get an attitude check. You won't get many customers with this snotty attitude of yours. Second, I'd like to get this collar and leash."

Seeing the woman before him looking down expectantly, he sighed and walked over to the counter where he tapped in the prices of her purchases.

"That's $11.35..." he said unenthusiastically, holding out a hand after throwing her things in a bag.

Grace scowled at him. _Jerk. _"Here." She threw him $11.50 before grabbing the plastic bag and walking away. "Keep the damn change." _Bitch._

Stepping outside into the sun, she spotted the others by the corner next to the store. Walking over to them, bag in hand, she fished out the collar.

Bending down so she was the same level as Dean, she slipped the collar open and wrapped in gently around his neck. Pulling it closed, she slipped the end of it into the hook before putting the metal rod through a leather hole she had found suitable and slipping the end through another hook.

Patting it down so it was in place, she took out the leash which she clipped onto his collar, taking Dean from Amanda and placing him onto the cement.

Padding around on the new environment, Dean yipped up at Grace, letting his tongue dangle out happily.

"Not so bad, is it sweetie?" Grace grinned, tugging his leash slightly so they could walk down to the parked impala.

_Wuff! "Nope."_

Trotting up to the car, small nails clicking on the bitumen, Dean sat next to the passenger door as he waited for Sam to unlock the doors.

When he heard the click, signalling free entrance, he jumped up onto his feet, wagging his tail happily.

"Front seat?" Grace asked, smiling. Dean nodded, in a...dog-like sort of way.

Crouching down, she put her hands below his front legs, before picking him up and resting Dean against her chest. She pulled open the door and seated herself down before placing him down on her lap – a more comfortable position.

"Let's take him to the park. We gotta let this little monster let out all of his energy," she giggled. Dean looked up at her innocently until she placed a hand over his head, massaging his temple softly.

_Mmmhhh... "That feels so good, Gracie..."_

Sam and Amanda smiled from their seats, looking over at Dean and Grace.

"Park it is," Sam nodded, reversing and spinning the car in the right direction.

-------------------------

"Dean!" Grace squealed, hiding behind a tree.

_Wuff! Wuff! "Come here, chicken!"_

Grace giggled as she dodged left and right, trying to keep away from Dean who was trying to get a nip at her toes through her yellow flats. She spun around multiple times, multi-coloured summer dress flying up in the air over her skin-tight jeans.

"Sam! Help me!" she yelped, running behind another tree after the Labrador had run around to her previous fort.

While Sam sat with Amanda on the benches, he laughed dryly, it almost coming out as a short scoff, and dismissed her with his hand, ignoring the loud gasp that came from her at being ignored – also at the fact that he was leaving her to _die. _Well, not exactly die but...you know, pretty close.

"Eeep!" Grace began climbing up a tree, miserably failing because of her shoes, and clawing at the bark as if it would help.

Dean ran around behind her, dashing forward to lick the back of her ankles playfully. Grace jumped in surprise, laughing at the adorable creature before her.

_Gosh, and I thought Dean was cute as a guy! Nah...he was more...sexy, now wasn't he? _

She giggled loudly, resting her head on the tree behind her as she sat down on the ground, letting Dean jump up onto her lap.

Dean sat down and gently manoeuvred himself into a position where he was lying down, head resting on his paws.

Seeing a couple of dogs walk by, Dean's ears perked up, while one eye opened.

_Wuff! "Hey handsome..."_ _a nice female dog said. _

Grace scoffed as a line of cute dogs walked by them. She couldn't help but feel a little hurt when Dean smiled at them, lifting his head to look at them.

_Row? "Gracie?" _

Dean looked up at his partner after seeing a frown cross her face. He began pawing softly at her hand to gain her attention. When he saw her eyes focus on his, he sat up, putting his two paws on her breasts once again. It gave him brownie points for cuteness.

Grace smiled sadly before stroking his back. Dean nuzzled into her chest as if to ask if she was okay. When she smiled widely, he knew she was alright but still wanted to know what was wrong. He put his head down and began butting the top of it into her chest.

Grace got the picture and picked him up so that he was practically sitting on her breasts.

"I'm okay babe...Just got a little upset when umm," Grace began shaking her head, embarrassed at herself. "When those dogs came by and you were looking at them..." She ducked her head, looking down at the grass which had seemingly become interesting.

Dean whined softly and nudged her chin up with the top of his head.

"Hmm?" she asked quietly, still not looking at him. It wasn't until he began whining more and more until she did.

_Wuff! "Grace!"_

Dean smiled and rubbed his face against her arm lovingly. Grace bent down and gave Dean a peck on the nose, Dean twitching it cutely while smiling.

"I shouldn't be jealous of those little dogs, should I?" Grace laughed. Dean waved his head around, more horizontally than vertically. "Okey dokey."

Dean happily poked his nose into Graces chest, before letting his front legs slide down so he was lying on her lap again.

He rolled over, legs and paws in the air, coaxing Grace to rub his tummy. She grinned and began rubbing the fluffy underside like he wanted.

Dean panted in satisfaction, kicking his limbs around. Grace grinned, continuing the action until his eyes began to slowly slip closed, his legs drooped down, and his mouth set in a small smile.

Grace leaned down so that her face was inches above Dean's. Smiling at the adorable puppy in her lap, she pecked Dean on his wet nose before leaning back against the tree, closing her eyes herself.

_Nose twitch. "Hmm...being a dog is awesome! Love how I have puppy eyes!" Squeal. "Ha! Sammy aint got nothing on me now!" Giggle. "Guess dogs aren't so bad...I mean I am one right now, and i'm not bad! Not at all..."_

"Grace!" a loud voice woke Dean and Grace from their afternoon slumber.

"What?" Grace asked, a little irritated. She had just drifted off...

Sam laughed from the bench. "Amanda and I are getting bored here, chimp."

Grace scowled at him from a distance. "Chimp?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "Where the hell did that come from?"

He shrugged before grabbing Amanda's hand and taking her towards Grace.

She sighed and stretched her arms above her head as Dean let out a cute yawn. **(A/N: You know that sound puppies make when they yawn? LOL)**

Sam and Amanda plopped down next to her. Amanda on the right and Sam to the right of her.

_Wah! "Why'd you make me up?!"_

Amanda bent over Grace's lap to give Dean a small kiss on the head, Dean smiling happily in response.

_Poke._

_Rawr! "Ouch!"_

"What?" Grace said innocently, smiling slyly at the small puppy.

Sam laughed loudly. "Aww...she picking on you? Deanie?" Sam made sure to emphasise the name Deanie. He had heard Grace say it but he had a feeling Dean wouldn't like it so much when _he _said it.

Dean's ears perked up as he sat up quickly and turned to face Sam, glaring. It didn't do much good though. An adorable little Labrador trying to look dangerous? I don't think so.

Sam swatted his brother softly on the head. "Little mutt," he said playfully, looking at Amanda. Dean frowned, nudging Grace in the stomach and hoping she would help him.

"Oh be nice..." Grace said, rolling her eyes and pulling Dean close to her. It made Dean stumble a little after being moved so suddenly, but he quickly regained his footing.

"Whatever," Sam mumbled giving Amanda a kiss on the side of her temple.

As Sam began to talk, a small blue ball rolled towards them, stopping when it impacted with the tree, bouncing back.

Grace picked up the ball, holding it up in the air whilst looking for the owner. As she did this, Dean began getting excited, standing up on his hind legs and biting the air for the ball.

Looking around, Grace did not see anyone coming to retrieve the lost item. Shrugging, she threw it to her left, the ball rolling down under a clump of bushes.

As soon as the ball was airborne, Dean jumped out from Grace's lap and began racing after the ball, tongue hanging out from the fast speed. He disappeared under the bushes before reappearing seconds later with the blue object, bounding back towards Grace.

He dropped the slightly wet ball in her hand so that she would throw again. Grace held it and hurled it towards the right of the park, accidentally throwing too hard, making the ball land in the lake nearby the area of which they were sitting in.

"Oh crap," Grace cursed, standing up and walking towards the lake.

Dean had ignored the fact the ball was in the lake and jumped in after it anyway. Swimming out into the lake, Dean retrieved it in his mouth, doggy paddling his way back to the grass adorning the edges of the mass of water.

"Dean," she breathed out, thankful he hadn't hurt himself. "Babe, don't go running like that." She ran a hand through her hair. "Scared the shit out of me."

Seeing his baby so worried, Dean slowly padded towards her, dropping the ball obediently down in front of her feet and sat down gently.

Grace melted at the sight of Dean being so cute. He cocked his head at her when she looked into his eyes, smiling so that a couple of small teeth poked out from the corners of his mouth.

"Aww...come here." Grace sat down on the ground, letting Dean bowl her over when he came running. He padded around on her chest before he sat down, stopping her from sitting up without moving him. "Dean..." she whined, frowning.

Dean smiled down at her. _Ruff! "Hehehe...not letting you up that easily!"_

When Grace tried to pick him up, Dean scooted away before returning to his original position after she had dropped her hands in defeat.

"Fine," she sighed, shutting her eyes.

Dean abruptly jumped off, standing next to Grace's head. When Grace felt this, she opened one eye in curiosity and suspicion.

Glad that he had gained her attention, Dean smirked and shook himself wildly, wetting Grace with all the water that had accumulated on his fur.

Grace gasped loudly, sitting up and wiping the water off her face with her palm.

Dean giggled inwardly, scampering away towards Sam and Amanda for protection as Grace chased after him.

"Dean!" Grace bellowed, bending down and catching Dean's body mid-step. Well...mid-leap. He thrashed around, trying to escape her hold but gave up a minute later after failing.

_Hmmmph! "Dammit."_

Grace sat down, Dean still in her hands. When she was seated, she gave Dean a hard poke in the side, earning a loud yelp from him

After she was pleased with the end result, she softly placed Dean on the ground where he pouted and trudged over to his brother for comfort.

_Nudge._

"Hey dude," Sam said softly, patting Dean on the head. "Grace being mean?" Dean moved his head up and down dramatically.

Sam's eyes softened and he gestured with his hand for Dean to jump onto his lap. Placing a cautious paw on Sam's crossed leg, he followed it with his other front paw, and then his two hind legs, seating himself on his brother's lap and curling up sleepily.

"Hey," Sam mouthed to Amanda who turned to look at him. "Should we go?" He nodded his head down to his lap where Dean lay asleep, curled up in a small ball.

Amanda looked left to where Grace sat and raised an eyebrow in question. Grace nodded, standing up and straightening her thigh length dress.

Amanda stood too, letting Sam transfer the puppy into her hands where she stroked his ear back onto his head, rubbing his face with the back of her knuckles.

They hopped into the impala and sped off back to the motel.

Reaching the front door of his and Amanda's room, Sam unlocked it, letting the two girls step in before he did, shutting the door on his way in.

Amanda set a now dry Dean down on her bed that they didn't use, letting the small puppy sleep. After she walked away to join Sam on the other, Grace sat down next to Dean, patting him. Seeing his innocent face, she smiled before taking the blanket and lightly covering his body, just in case he got cold or felt like something soft. Dean snuggled into it, wriggling his head around on the blanket happily.

Kissing his body, she walked back to gatecrash Sam and Amanda's bed party.

"So..." she said, leaning on one elbow which was placed in between the two. "What do you guys think about this...situation?"

Sam sighed, bringing a hand up to rest around Amanda's shoulders. "I have no idea. I mean, why would anyone turn Dean into a dog? Come on...seriously!"

"Did he piss anyone off?" Amanda asked, raising her hands a tiny bit frustrated at their lack of knowledge.

"Not really. Unless you count some crimpled old lady who can barely walk," she joked.

Sam shrugged, taking it into account. "Could be."

"And an old woman could do that how?" Grace asked incredulously, throwing her head back onto the bed.

"Witch?" Amanda suggested.

Both turned to look at her. "How'd you know?" Sam asked after deeming it possible.

"Hmm." She made a noise of dismissal, shrugging. "I've been doing research on things. Though I needed to know some more about these creatures you guys seem to deal with on a daily basis."

Sam nodded, obviously impressed. "Good girl." He pressed a kiss to her temple, Amanda leaning into his touch.

"Okay good. So if it was a witch then...how are we supposed to find the old hag?" she asked, peering at them upside down.

"I dunno. We should be able to find some sort of pattern. She may have done it before so we can track her down.

_Mowwr! "Toilet! I need to pee!"_

Dean jumped off the bed and ran over to the door where he stood on his two back legs, scratching at the wood.

Grace stood up to open the door for Dean before falling back onto the bed he had previously occupied.

------------------------------------

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

Dean's nails clicked on the road as he trotted over to a nearby tree to do his business.

Parking beside one and lifting his leg, he relieved himself, sighing happily.

Shaking himself off, he began walking back towards the room.

The last thing he saw and heard was a flash of dark blue and a loud screech.

------------------------------------------

"Yeah, we'll check it out tomorrow?" Sam nodded in agreement to Grace.

_Screeeech._

Grace, Sam and Amanda ran outside to see what had happened.

The last thing Grace saw before passing out was the sight of a dark blue Honda parked in the middle of the road, dust flying around in the air from the sudden halt, and Dean lying on the ground. Still.

"DEAN!"

-------------------------------


	11. Damn Witches

"DEAN!" Sam yelled, quickly laying Grace on the floor before running towards his brother's limp body.

As Sam scooped the small puppy up, Amanda tended to Grace who was still out of it.

Amanda rested Grace on herself so that her head was hanging over the back of her shoulder. Slowly and carefully, she lifted Grace inside where she lay her down on one of the beds, draping a small blanket over her frame before rushing out to help Sam.

"Dean," he pleaded softly. "Please wake up, man." Sam patted the puppy on the head, smoothing its ear back onto its head.

Dean whined quietly as he lifted a paw and scratched weakly at the air.

Sam let out a big sigh of relief. _At least he's not dead._

"Hey Amanda, can you find out the nearest vet around here? I'm sure even with his new superdog powers, Dean's still broken something."

Amanda nodded and raced inside, pulling a worn directory from one of the bottom drawers of the desk between the beds.

Quickly flipping through the pages, she got to the V section and scanned the list for one in town. Locating one she deemed worthy, she ran outside, tearing out the sheet with the address and number on it.

Amanda raced outside to Sam who was currently loading Dean into the passenger seat on his lap. She jumped into the driver's seat and sped out onto the street.

"Sam? Where the hell is Velgrove Street?" Amanda was blindly driving around, hoping she was going the right way.

"Do a U-turn," he commanded, supporting his brother with his hands so the car's jerky movements wouldn't jostle him too much.

She nodded, suddenly swerving across three lanes so she could make the turn. Going in the right direction, Sam told her when to turn and when to go straight.

Pulling up to a red light, Sam agitatedly pulled out his phone from his back pocket.

"Yeah hi," he started. "My dog Dean got hit by a car and you need to see him now. My girlfriend and I are on our way now and we should be there really soon so if you could get everything ready for us by the time we get there...yes..I know it's late but this is an emergency...I don't care if you're full, you need to see him NOW...yeah that's fine...thanks a lot."

Sam snapped the phone shut, staring blankly ahead as the light turned green and they sped off. Very soon as he had said, they pulled into the parking lot of the veterinary.

Grace got out first, pulling the doors open for Sam as he carried Dean inside.

"Hello? I need a vet here! My br--dog got hit by a car. I need someone now!"

A woman wearing a white blouse and black work pants rushed out from one of the double doors, nodding and ushering them through to an examination room past all of the seated people waiting their turn. They exchanged annoyed expressions between themselves.

The pair followed, setting a dizzy Dean onto a metal table.

_Woof! "Owww..."_

"Aww, poor thing," the vet cooed, patting Dean. She stopped her googly eyes as she caught Sam's annoyed look from one of the white plastic chairs on the left side of the room. "You'll be just fine, sweetie."

"Yeah, could we hurry up the examination please?" The way Sam said it made the question into a statement. You'd have to be pretty dense if you didn't notice the anger and frustration radiating out from him.

"Okay, sure," the blonde vet whispered quietly, quickly striding across the room to fetch some tools.

Amanda squeezed Sam's hand as the vet worked on Dean, prodding him her and there.

_Rawwww... "Yeah okay, that feels good..."_

"You gotta calm down, alright Sam? You being pissed at the woman isn't going to help Dean, you know." She smiled softly as she said this.

Sam sighed loudly. "Yeah I know Amanda, I'm just mad that Dean's hurt.  
Stupid driver behind the stupid wheel of the stupid car, not looking where he was going and hitting my stupid brother, so that I'm sitting in a stupid chair in a stupid veterinary where a stupid lady is working on my stupid brother." He had luckily mumbled the second sentence so the vet didn't suddenly turn around and glare at him. He must've gotten the 'stupid syndrome' from Grace that time Dean left them in a nightclub by themselves. Amanda gave him a good whack in the chest.

"What?" he asked incredulously as if it were a normal thing to be mad at everything.

"Cool it, will you? You're gonna give Dean a heart attack or something."

For the first time since the girl had started the examination, Sam peered over her back to see his big brother looking up at him with sad eyes. Dean whined softly, whipping his head around from left to right.

"Shh..." the vet quickly comforted, stroking his pain stricken face.

_Waw... "Stop it."_

"I don't think Dean wants you to be upset. He'll be fine. I think your moody attitude's getting to him."

Sam rose from his seat and walked over to the metal table. He stared at his brother, and him back, the two having a silent conversation with their eyes, even with Dean as a dog.

"Is he gonna be okay, Miss..." Sam broke off, realising his rudeness since he never caught her name.

"Call me Cara," she smiled softly, "and yes your dog will be okay. He just has a minor fracture in his right hind leg. Must have strong bones for him to be hit by a car and not get anything broken."

Sam chuckled. "Yeah, he's a tough one, him."

_Raw! "You got that right!"_

Amanda smirked at Dean's agreement. "Alright Cara, will he be getting that fixed up tonight?"

She shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry, we're really full tonight as you can see," she said, nodding her head towards the door where the reception was. "I'm sorry, I really am. I know you two must care greatly for this little puppy."

_If only you knew..._

Sam nodded, okay with it, now that his anger had faded away. He was a bit more understanding now than before.

"Alright then," Cara said placing her hands on the table, glad that the man didn't pitch a fit like she had thought. "I'll wheel your brother into one of the rooms and we'll work on him first thing tomorrow morning. Just as long as he doesn't move his leg around too much, he'll be good until then."

"Thanks Cara," Amanda said, giving Dean a tiny peck on the cheek which he smiled to. "Hear that Dean? No moving around too much." He frowned.

_Row... "Dammit."_

The vet reached her fingers under the edge of the table and snapped up a set of handrails so that she could push Dean away. Sam held the door open as she directed one of the ladies behind the reception desk to wheel the dog into the first room available.

"So that's all done," she said, returning to them. "You guys can head home unless you wanted a quick visit."

Cara whipped away, calling on another patient into her room.

"I'm staying here with Dean," Sam immediately said.

"What about the witch thing? If she is a witch..." she asked.

"We don't even know who it is, Amanda." Anyone could tell he was frustrated again.

'Who says we can't stay up all night and find her? Besides, we gotta go back to the motel and fetch Grace. I mean, she's probably just...freaking out right about now." Sam stayed quiet. "Okay, tell you what? I'll go back and bring Grace here while you stay. After I've dropped her here, we'll go back to the motel and do some serious research." Sam nodded. "Okay good. Now behave Sam. Don't go getting frustrated at everyone, okay? You better not make me get a nurse to watch you." He rolled his eyes and pushed her gently out the front door.  
"I'm going, I'm going."

Sam pushed through the double doors again and found his brother's room.

"Hey bro," he laughed, seeing Dean sprawled across the small bed, arms and legs hanging off the side. "Thought Cara told you not to move your leg around too much. I don't think having it handing off the damn edge,  
helps it any."

Dean scoffed, but pulled his fractured leg fully onto the bed, leaving his other limbs off the edge, still.

_Waw! "Better?"_

Sam chuckled. "Okay, I won't complain anymore, you mutt."

_Humph. "Mutt."_

"Grace'll be coming soon," he added conversationally, although Dean's sparkling eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas. Sam smiled. "Knew you'd like that small bit of info."

_Rahwoo! "Duh dude!"_

----------------------------------------

"Hey Grace," Amanda breathed out as she pushed the door open.

Grace didn't respond, only glared.

"What?" Honestly, she had no idea why Grace was mad.

"You. Left. Me. Here." Grace said every word separately, each one dripping with anger.

"Umm...yeah, about that..." For a brief moment, Amanda felt like ducking out and running for cover.

Grace sat silently, waiting for an answer.

"We had to get Dean to a vet really quickly. You passed out so I put you on the bed since I didn't think you were in the best condition. But hey,  
I came back for you, didn't I? You didn't miss out on anything if that's what you're thinking. Sam's with Dean right now. He's waiting for you."

A corner of Grace's mouth tugged up slightly at the last part. "Okay"  
She had visibly brightened up as she trotted outside and into the passenger seat of the impala.

"Gee, look who's chirpy, huh?" Amanda rolled her eyes at Grace.  
"Someone's excited to see Dean..."

"You got that right," Grace murmured, damn near bouncing in her seat.

In just fifteen minutes, the girls were pushing through multiple doors and people to get to Dean.

When they got to his room, Grace practically ran in to attack poor Dean.

"Oh my god Dean, are you okay? You're okay, right? I mean, you look okay. But you might not be okay. You're not dead so, you're okay, right?  
Dean, are you okay?!??!" Grace yelled at Dean.

"Told you she'd be freaking out," Amanda whispered to a smiling Sam. He obviously found her fretting amusing. She spoke up when she turned to face Grace. "He's okay, Grace. Just got a fracture." She then pulled at Sam's elbow. "Let's go. Give those two some privacy, will you?"

"Yeah, yeah," he mumbled, allowing her to pull him away.

"Great, I've got you all to myself now," Grace smirked, as did Dean.  
"Aren't you glad your last human experience before this was_ that_ great?"

_Woooooooof! "Hell yes!"_

"Yeah...that was fun," she giggled. "We are _so_ doing it again after you get better."

Dean nodded enthusiastically.

Grace looked around the room, scanning for something she could temporarily reside in.

"Huh. No chair? Guess I'll be sleeping on the floor..." Grace sighed theatrically before rolling her eyes. "Phht, yeah right." She pivoted and marched out into the reception, stealing a big comfy chair, and carried it back into Dean's room, dropping it next to his bed.

"There. All better," she said, pleased with herself, grinning a big goofy smile that Dean loved.

Plopping down on the padded seat, she rested her head on her folded hands near Dean's head.

She leaned down to kiss him softly on the nose. Dean scrunched it up but still smiled lovingly at her.

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	12. The old lady

**This is where I take over from the amazing Mssammydean, hopefully you guys like it. I know I have been saying I've been going to get this up for weeks, but I was strung up for time, but after meeting the incredible Jared, Jensen and Misha last weekend *squee* I had a burst of inspiration**.

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Gracie woke up to find Dean licking at her nose,

"Quit it Dean, I'm awake, I'm awake"

_Woof! Rise and shine sleepy head_

She wrapped her hands around his middle and moved him onto her lap carefully, he still whined

_OW!_

"I'm sorry babe, still tender huh?" he looked up at her and nodded, she lifted him up and cradled him to her chest, he nuzzled his nose into her hair.

_Damn, she smells good._

Gracie laughed,

"Your fuzzy little ears are tickling me, and your nose is cold" she rubbed her hand over his soft fur, "The vet is going to fix your leg up today, and Sammy and Amanda are looking into the old lady, we'll have you back to normal in not time"

_About damn time._

The door opened and the vet strolled through,

"Hi guys, how's the patient this morning?"

_I got hit by a car, how the hell do you think I'm doing?_

"I just have to finish my rounds and then little Deanie here will be first on my operating table"

Dean growled,

_Little Deanie?? I don't think so._

Gracie ran her hand gently down his back and whispered in his ear,

"It's okay baby, we both know your not little"

_Damn straight._

"I'll be back in about half an hour, just make sure the little guy stays as still as possible"

_Enough with the little already._

Cara left the room to continue on her rounds, no sooner had she left then Sam and Amanda walked in they both looked exhausted,

"Morning guys" said Sam as he let out a huge yawn, "Grace, you look better rested than us, how's Dean going?"

"He's okay, the vet was just in, she said he would be the first operation today, which is good, I don't like seeing him in pain"

"Well that's good" Amanda hopped up to sit on the table that Dean had slept on, "We brought you some coffee, thought you might need it"

"You're a mind reader, and a lifesaver" she grabbed the cup and lifted the lid, the enticing smell of fresh coffee wafted up to greet her nose, she took a sip,

"Ah, that's good"

Dean shifted in her lap and tried to stick his nose in the cup,

"No!" Gracie scolded, "Coffee is NOT for puppies"

_Whine, I NEED coffee!_

"Haha, I told you you were addicted" Sam said with a smug look on his face,

_Growl. Shut it Sammy._

"Sorry dude"

"So, did you guys have any luck on the old lady?"

Amanda looked down into her coffee while Sam shifted on his feet,

"Uh, we actually found squat, we were up all night searching, we couldn't find anything, but as soon as you head into surgery Dean we are going to keep looking, don't worry we'll find her"

_You better._

They all sat there in silence, the only noise coming from the waiting room down the hall, the sounds of barking and meowing getting louder and louder.

Before long Cara returned,

"I'm back, wow, more visitors Dean? you are one loved puppy"

_It's because I'm awesome._

"Well, it's time to go fix that leg of yours, you ready? Oh, just one more thing, did you guys want him de-sexed while we're at it?" she lent over and plucked Dean off Gracie's lap,

_GGGRRRRRRRRR HELL NO!_

"Ah, no, I don't think we could do that to him" Gracie heard Sam stifle a giggle,

"Okay then. You guys are welcome to wait in the waiting room of you like, there's coffee and tea in there, just help yourselves."

"Wait, can I just say goodbye?" Gracie leaned down and kissed Dean on the top of the head, "See you soon babe, love you." tears welled in her eyes,

"He's really important to you guys huh? Don't worry he'll be fine" with that Cara walked out of the room with Dean in her arms.

Amanda put her hand on Grace's shoulder,

"You staying here sweetie?"

"Of course, I want to be here when he wakes up, and god help anyone who gets in my way" there was such a fierce look on her face that Sam doubted that anyone would try and stop her,

"Sure, well we might head out and see if we can find anything on our mystery witch"

All three headed down the hall to the waiting room, it was about half full of people with all manner of pets, but it was one that caught Gracie's eye, she pulled Sam over to the side of the room,

"Sam, that's her"

"What?"

"That's the old lady Dean and I saw yesterday, the one with the little dog with the bow"

"The one that looks like it ran into a door?"

"Yeah, her and Dean had an 'altercation' about her dog"

"You sure?"

"Of course I'm sure, that's her" Gracie gave the old woman a death stare and moved towards her, Sam grabbed her arm,

"Wait, we're not sure if she's the witch yet or not, and if she is you don't need to go over there and provoke her"

"But look what she did to Dean, she turned him into a damn puppy" she pulled on his arm trying to break his grip, but he was too strong,

"Dammit Sam, let me go"

"As long as you promise not to go over there and screw things up" she glanced up at him with a look that would scare the devil, "I mean it Gracie, if it is her, we do not need you tipping her off"

"Gracie"

"Fine, I won't go over there and kill her, happy now?"

"Hardly"

A tall dark haired man walked out from the door beside them, he looked far too young to be a vet,

"Mr. Sniffles?"

The old lady rocked herself out of the chair, Mr. Sniffles walking obediently by her side, the vet put his arm out and directed her into the room, as she passed them she looked at Gracie and smirked,

"Oh, that's it"

"Gracie!" Amanda grabbed her free arm while Sam tightened his grip, "Leave it Grace, go and sit down, Sam and I will wait until she comes back out and follow her"

"Amanda's right, you need to be here for Dean, we can handle this" Gracie took a deep breath to calm herself,

"I know, I know, it just makes me so mad thinking of him in there, getting operated on, by a vet for christ's sake!" she threw her arms in the air, making the others let go,

"Come on lets go sit down" Amanda led them over to the chairs, sitting in a position so they had a clear view of the examination room that the old lady was in and of the entrance,

"We'll tail her as soon as she leaves, find out everything we can, actually I have an idea" Sam moved over to the receptionist's desk, there was no one behind it, after a few seconds typing on the computer he returned,

"Okay, so I have her name and address, this place should really review their security" he pulled the keys out of his pocket, "Since we know she won't be home for a while Amanda and I should go over to her place and check it out, she only lives a block from here"

"You'll be okay?" Amanda asked,

"I'll be fine, just make sure you get that scheming bitch" she laughed,

"Will do" Sam touched Grace on the shoulder,

"We'll be back later"

Grace crossed her arms and settled in for the long haul, she was never good at being patient. She leaned over and plucked a magazine off the coffee table, it was from two years ago, but at least it kept her mind from thinking about what she wanted to do to that old lady. After losing herself in an article about Brad Pitt she was surprised to look up and see that the waiting room had cleared, as she stretched her arms out in front of her the old woman and the vet came out of the examination room,

"Mr. Sniffles is fit as a fiddle Ms. Roberts, would you like to make an appointment for his next check up?"

"Yes please" they moved over to the desk, the young vet spoke to the receptionist,

"Can you make an appointment for Mr. Sniffles here in 3 months time?"

"Sure thing doctor" she typed something into the computer and wrote on a card, "Here you go Ms. Roberts we'll see you again in three months"

"Thank you. Come along Mr. Sniffles" she shuffled towards the door, when she finally reached it she pushed at the handle, as she waited for the dog to go through first she looked at Gracie, and winked. It took every ounce of self control she had not to jump up and drive a knife into her chest. Luckily at that moment Cara came back out,

"Ms. Alexander? Dean is out of surgery now if you would like to see him?"

Grace couldn't get out of the seat fast enough,

"Of course I want to see him, is he okay?"

"He's fine, everything went perfectly, he's one tough little cookie"

The vet led her into another room, the first thing she seen was Dean lying unconscious on a small table, tubes coming out of hhis mouth and a drip coming out of his front leg, they had also shaved his back leg and half of his stomach,

"Oh Dean honey" she stroked his head, he looked so vulnerable,

"You're welcome to stay with him until he comes around"

"Thank you"

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"Sam, do you think this is the witch we are after?" Amanda looked over at Sam,

"Well Dean did piss her off"

"Yeah, but Dean pisses a lot of people off, what makes you think it could be her?" Sam laughed,

"Good point, it might not be her, but it doesn't hurt to have a look" he pulled the Impala over outside a neat little weatherboard house, "This is it"

"Doesn't look like an evil witches house" Sam looked over at Amanda,

"They never do"

They got out of the car and headed towards the house, going through the white picket gate they were surrounded by a immaculate garden,

"I think we can safely assume that this is our witch"

"Why do you say that?" Sam pointed at the garden,

"Well that's Belladonna, and that one" he pointed again "is Mandrake, and that one, is Wolfsbane. Typical victory garden"

"Right, so what's the plan then?"

"Break in, get a look around, she might have an alter, or a hex bag, something that started the spell on Dean, there are about a thousand forms of witchcraft, and each one is different"

"SO we don't know what we have to look for?"

"Pretty much"

"Great" Sam pulled his lockpick out and proceeded to tamper with the deadbolt, it took all of a second to unlock the door,

"You're good at that" Amanda was impressed,

"I've had a bit of practice"

They walked in and closed the door behind them, it was a typical old ladies house, doilies on every surface and a weird musty smell.

"You look upstairs, I'll check out down here" Amanda headed up the staircase, it creaked eerily with her every step. Sam called up the stairs,

"Just look for anything out of the ordinary"

Sam made his way into the kitchen, it was spotless, and nothing looked out of place, but something on the windowsill caught Sam's eye. He moved over towards the sink and picked up the mortar and pestle from the sill,

"huh" he lifted it up towards his nose, as he sniffed Amanda walked back into the room,

"Do you always go around smelling old ladies cooking utensils?"

"I do if the smell like this" he held the stone bowl out to Amanda, she cupped it in her hands and brought it to her face,

"What is that?"

"Not something you'd find in your normal mortar and pestle that's for sure, it's Meadowsweet, it was used in pagan worship, but also as a base ingredient for some heavy duty witchcraft"

"It's going to take me forever to learn all this stuff" she sat the bowl on the counter top,

"Hey" Sam moved around the counter and wrapped his arms around Amanda's shoulders, "You've only just started learning, and you've done an amazing job picking up what you have already, you've taken to hunting like a duck to water, it's a bit disconcerting really"

"I know, I just feel like I'm a hindrance right now, but I really want this, it's like I was born to do this, it fells like.......home I guess"

"Hey, your a great help, it was you that thought of the witch angle remember?" Sam gave her a big squeeze,

"Sam, can't breath"

"Oh right, sorry" Amanda punched him lightly on the shoulder,

"You can't help it sasquatch"

Sam dropped his arms and reached around to grab the gun out of the waistband of his pants,

"Sam?"

"Shhh" Sam hissed as he moved Amanda behind him, she listened and heard someone unlocking the door, Sam stood poised to shoot, arms stretched out in front, gun aimed at the door,

"Sam?"

"Quiet"

The door swung open, the old lady entering with the ever faithful Mr. Sniffles trailing behind her,

"I knew you'd be here" Sam unlatched the safety switch on his gun,

"Really? and how did you know that?"

"Because I know a lot more than people give me credit for"

"What did you do to my brother?"

"I taught him a lesson, there are some things he needed to learn" Sam looked confused,

"Like what?"

"He has a problem understanding humanity, I've helped him out with that"

"What? Dean understands humanity, he understands better than most"

"I don't think so" the old lady moved closer to Sam her hand raised towards him,

"Eius in obitu nostro praesentia muniamur!" Sam found himself flying across the room, crashing into a bookcase, the contents crashing down on top of him as he fell,

"Crux sacra sit mihi lux! Nunquam draco sit mihi dux!" she moved closer and Sam writhed in pain, she bent down over him, a knife in her hand,

"NO!" Amanda screamed reaching out towards the old lady across the room, there was no way she could get over ot them before the knife fell,

"SAM!" all of a sudden the knife shuddered in the old ladies hand before shooting across the room to be caught by Amanda, she just stared at it stunned,

"How?" the witch asked, Amanda looked over at the old lady with hate in her eyes,

"How dare you hurt my family" She grabbed the blade of the knife and tried to remember what Sam had taught her about knife throwing, she flicked her wrist and watched as the knife spun throught the air and landed in the womans chest, Sam looked up at her with trepidation in his eyes,

"Amanda?"

"Sam.......I..........what happened?"

"I don't know, but whatever it was, thank you, you saved my life" he pulled himself up out of the jumble of books and smashed photo frames, he moved over and clasped his girlfriend to his chest, he could feel her shaking in his arms, "It's okay"

"Will killing her help Dean?, or did I just screw things up?" Sam looked over to her, his forehead creased with worry,

"I don't know, we better call Grace and see what's happening"

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Grace Alexander sat by the table absently stroking the soft fur on Dean's head,

"Typical, we finally get our crap sorted out and this happens" she mumbled to herself, she felt the small puppy move under her palm, "Dean? you awake honey?"

_Whine, I feel like crap_

"Hey there sweetie, welcome back, how are you feeling?"

_Like I got hit by a car, wait, I DID get hit by a car_

"We think we found the witch, Sammy and Amanda have gone to check her out" dean tried to lift himself up onto his feet, he managed to get himself up onto his front paws before collapsing back onto the table,

"Hold up there, you just had your leg operated on, I don't think you are in any shape to go hunting witches, not to mention the fact that you are still a puppy, a very cute puppy I might add" she ruffled his ears,

_Fine._

Suddenly a strong breeze blew through the room, Gracie looked up to see if anyone had opened the door, it was still closed tighly and there were no windows in the room,

"Weird, did you feel that?" she looked down at Dean, his whole body was trembling,

"DEAN!" as she stared in horror at the convulsing dog something strange started to happen, he seemed to be getting bigger, all of a sudden a bright light filled the room blinding Gracie,

"Dean" she called again feeling for the table, her arms outstretched, the light subsided and Grace opened her eyes cautiously, was she saw shocked her.

It was Dean, human Dean sitting on the small table, before she cold utter a word the table collapsed under his weight,

"Son of a bitch"

"Oh God! Dean!" she ran over and threw her arms around him, "Thank god you're back" Dean winced,

"Whoa, steady on babe, not feeling the greatest right now, operation remember? and lets not forget the whole weird metamorphosis thing"

"Oh right, sorry" she backed away, still in shock, before she could ask Dean if he was okay she felt her cell vibrate in her pocket, she got it out and checked the caller ID, it was Sam, they both spoke at the same time,

"Heya Sam, guess what?"

"Grace, how's Dean?" she laughed into the phone, "I take it that's good news?"

"Dean's fine and back to normal, well, as normal as Dean gets anyway"

"Hey!"

"Sorry babe. So what happened, did you gank the witch?"

"Actually, Amanda did" there was something in Sam's voice that told Grace that there was more to the story, but right now she didn't care, her man was back and that's all she needed to know.

"Okay, well we'll find a way to sneak out of here and meet you guys back at the motel then"

"Okay, see ya Grace"

She looked over at Dean and smiled, she had never been so happy to see him in her life, she saw a look of realisation appear across his face, he put his hand into the waistband of his trousers and pulled them away from his body, then peered down at his crotch,

"Dean, what are you doing?"

"Just making sure the vet didn't go through with that de-sexing"

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**Well there you have it, my first chapter of Gracie Alexander, I hope you liked it :). Once again a BIG thank you to Mssammydean for letting me have my wicked way with her story, I hope you like what I've done!.**

**Okay! So now it's time to review people, I love to hear what people think and also would love to hear any ideas and suggestions you might have so lay them on me! xxx  
**


	13. Stir Crazy

**Well, I'm back! I would have had this up a little earlier but document manager was being an ass :D **

"You really shouldn't do that you know" Gracie gave Dean her fiercest look, he just scowled at her,

"It's itchy, I need to scratch it" he kept manipulating the chopstick beneath the plaster cast that encased his leg,

"I think it's so itchy because that damn woman shaved my leg, now it's growing back and I can't fudging scratch it" his brows furrowed as he pushed the slim bamboo stick further down the cast.

Gracie crossed the room and snatched the chopstick out of his hand,

"I said stop it" Dean pouted,

"Aww babe, just one more scratch? please??" he dropped his lip further and gave her his saddest look he could muster,

"Dean, the puppy dog look only worked when you were an actual puppy, now move your leg so I can sit down" she gently nudged his leg,

"Ow, careful, it's still tender" he swung the bulky cast off the chair, making a complete production of it,

"It's been three weeks since the surgery, I think it's time to stop playing the sympathy card" she moved the chair closer to the table and opened the newspaper out in front of her,

"Haven't you already read the paper? twice?" Dean raised his eyebrow at Gracie, she refolded it, sighed and threw it across the room,

"Yes I have, but what else is there to do?" she stood up suddenly, knocking the chair over behind her,

"I'm sick of being in this damn motel room, in this damn town, with no damn case to work" she slumped down on the bed which took up nearly half of the small room,  
"I'm sorry babe, I know it's my fault, but if it's any consolation, I'm bored too" Dean awkwardly moved over to the bad and sat down beside her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders,

"No, it's not your fault, you can't help being laid up with a broken leg, I'm just just a little stir crazy, I guess I'm not used to being stuck in the same place for so long"

Dean moved closer and placed his hand high up on her thigh,

"Speaking of being laid up" he smirked and waggled his eyebrows suggestively. She slapped his hand away,

"I'm so not in the mood right now Dean, and anyway Sam and Amanda should be back any minute" Dean sighed,

"I hope he remembered the pie"

"He always remembers the pie, he knows his life wouldn't be worth living if he didn't remember the pie"

"They've been gone a while actually, did they go to the next state to get food or something. I'm starving" Gracie rolled her eyes,

"You're always starving. I think they said they were going for a walk first" Dean looked thoughtful,

"Hmm, they've been going walking a lot lately"

"No shit sherlock. I don't blame them actually, anything would be better than staying in these pokey little rooms all day" she looked over at her boyfriend, he looked a little hurt,

"Sorry babe, I didn't mean it to come out like that, you know I love spending time with you" she leaned over and kissed him, he wrapped his hand up in her hair and pulled her closer, he moved his lips towards her ear and whispered,

"Well since we're cooped up in here we might as well do something useful" he kissed his way down her neck,

"Dean, I said I wasn't in the mood" she stood up from the bed and went back over to the table, he mumbled,

"It was worth a shot"

"You are kind of right though, they have been going out an awful lot lately, and acting kinda weird"

"Sam always acts weird" Gracie laughed,

"I'll tell him you said that" Dean pushed out his chest,

"Bring it"

"No, I'm serious, I think something is up with him and Amanda, haven't you noticed? they've been all.......weird"

"Weird, right, you said that"

"I can't explain it, they just haven't been themselves ever since Amanda killed that witch" she grabbed the knife sitting on the table and stared to play with it absent mindedly,

"Think about it babe, she jumped in the deep end with us, and she just killed her first human, it's not like when she killed the kathra, that's got to screw with her mind, I'd be worried if it didn't"

"Yeah, I guess, but they won't even talk about what happened at the witch's house, only that Amanda killed her, I mean, it's just so..."

"If you say weird I will come over there and spank you"

"You promise?" Gracie said with a smirk on her face.

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"Amanda we need to talk about this" Sam looked over at the girl sitting next to him on the park bench,

"For the last time, there is nothing to talk about" she stood up and walked over to the duck pond in the middle of the large park across the road from the motel,

"Sure, I mean you only stopped me from getting killed by psychically grabbing a knife off a very powerful witch, I can totally see how there's nothing to talk about" he stretched his long legs out in front of him and stood,

"I know you're probably scared but we need to figure out what happened" Sam went and stood next to her pulling her close, she pushed him away,

"Can't you just leave it be Sam? I mean, maybe it was just a stupid one off, a freak of nature thing"

"I've been around the supernatural all my life, it is never a stupid one off thing" Sam noticed Amanda's eyes moisten, he pulled her close this time ignoring her protests,

"We can work this out, I'll be here for you no matter what" he felt her sob into his shirt,

"I just don't understand, what's wrong with me?"

"Nothing's wrong with you, there will be an explanation for what happened, don't worry, we'll get to the bottom of this, but you need to talk to me about what happened so I can help you", she lifted her head from his chest,

"Okay, but later, we promised Dean we'd take him some food, and you know how he gets when he's hungry" Sam laughed,

"Yeah, I better take him some pie back or poor Gracie will have to put up with his bad mood, but promise me we'll talk about this later"

"I promise" the look in her eyes told Sam that she was telling the truth.

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Gracie moved over to the bed and pushed Dean onto his back, he growled in response,

"I thought you weren't in the mood?" she moved herself to straddle his thighs,

"What? A girl can't change her mind? since we're holed up in this room we might as well make use of the time" she leaned down and kissed him, lingering long enough to get his heart racing,

"No complaints here" he mumbled around her lips, he moved his hands up to twist them in her long hair,

"Dude! Get a room!" Sam cried as he stepped through the door,

"This is a room, OUR room" Gracie rolled off Dean, her face bright red,

"Ever heard of knocking Sammy?"

"Sorry, I thought Dean would like his pie" he threw a square Styrofoam container onto the bed next to Dean,

"PIE! hell yeah" the room was soon full of the sound of Dean inhaling his pie,

"Are you saying that the pie is better than me?" Gracie pursed her lips at him waiting for his answer,

"No comment?" he answered, spitting crumbs onto the comforter,

"Fine" she stood up and went and sat down next to Amanda at the small table, Amanda slid another container towards Gracie, she didn't look up from the table,

"Thanks, hey, are you okay? you've been pretty quiet lately" Amanda lifted her head and look at Gracie,

"Yeah I'm fine, just a little run down, that's all, and kinda sick of this town" Dean groaned,

"Not you too, I swear it's not MY fault we're stuck here, blame that skeevy old witch" Amanda looked like she was about to cry again,

"You wanna give it a rest Dean?" Sam pulled his chair closer to his girlfriends and rubbed her back,

"Geez, sorry, it's just that it seems like everyone is blaming me because we've been stuck here for a few weeks" his voice started to get louder, "Do you honestly think I wanted to get turned into a freaking puppy and get hit by a freaking car?" he was yelling now, "I've apologised enough haven't I? Don't you think I want to be out of this town too? I'd love to be be out on a case right now instead of laid up here with this stupid bloody cast on"

Amanda let out a small sob, Dean took a deep breath,

"God, I'm sorry Amanda that wasn't aimed at you" Sam glared at his older brother,

"I think we might head to our room for a while, sound good Amanda?"she sniffled and nodded her head,

"We'll catch you guys later" Gracie waved,

"See you guys" Sam kept hold of Amanda's shoulder's as they left the room, Gracie turned her focus to Dean,

"Look what you did!"

"What I did?" I said sorry, and anyway it wasn't directed at her" he took another bite from his piece of pie "So, everyone is allowed to pay out on me about being stuck here, but I can't say a word? is that how it goes? It's not my fault she's PMSing"

"I think somethings really up with Amanda, you should go easy on her"

"I think everyone should go easy on me"

"Give it a rest Dean you sound like a spoiled child" she grabbed the jacket hanging over the back of the chair,

"I'm going for a walk"

"Fine leave me here on my own, I'll just watch more riveting daytime TV" she rolled her eyes at him and walked out the door.

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Amanda curled up onto Sam's lap, tears streaming down her face,

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I let that get to me" Sam stroked her hair,

"Don't worry, Dean makes me want to cry sometimes too" he let out a little chuckle, and felt a chuckle ripple through her body, she lifted her head and smiled at him, tears still stuck to her eyelashes,

"You're too good for me you know that?"

"I think it might be the other way around"

"Hardly, you deserve better than some psychic freak" she tried to move off his knee, but he held her close,

"You know no one thinks of you as a freak"

"I do"

"It's time to get to the bottom of this Amanda, I won't let it get you down anymore, you need to tell me what happened" she sighed and extracted herself from Sam's arms,

"Okay" she moved onto another chair and started fidgeting with the coaster in front of her, Sam could tell that she was nervous,

"So do you know how you got the knife?"

"No"

"Did anything....happen....like.......in your head, or did you feel anything physical?" Amanda pinched the bridge of her nose,

"No, well, not exactly, it was kind of weird, one minute I was looking at her standing over you with the knife and then it was like I was in the corner of the room watching everything like a scene in a movie, I could even see myself standing by the counter, and then I saw myself put my hand out and the knife just flew across the room into my hand, then I was back in my body and all I could think about was killing her for hurting you"

"You saw yourself across the room? Like an outer body experience?"

"Yeah I guess it was something like that" she put her head in her hands,

"Sam whats wrong with me?" the look in her eyes was heartbreaking, it took all of Sam's control not to grab her and run, to take her away from here and keep her safe forever,

"Nothing is wrong with you, you are beautiful and smart and talented, this thing is nothing" he leaned over the table and kissed her forehead gently,

"Has anything like this ever happened to you before?" she lifted her head to look him directly in the eye,

"Not this bad"

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Gracie wandered back across the road towards the motel, she'd only been gone twenty minutes, just long enough to start feeling guilty about leaving Dean on his own, she looked up at the sky, it was starting to get dark anyway. She paused long enough to make sure that the Impala was still locked up, Dean would have a coronary if anything happened to his baby, and headed towards the faded green door to their room, she quickly peeked in the window of Sam and Amanda's room on the way past and saw them at the table deep in conversation, they both looked upset,

"Can't tell me something's not going on with those two" Gracie mumbled to herself. Taking a deep breath and steeling herself for Dean's wrath, she opened the door slowly, what she saw confused her at first,

"What the......?"

There were chunks of dirty white plaster strewn across the room, and Dean was sitting at the table, a small machete in hand hacking at his own leg,

"DEAN WINCHESTER!" he looked up sheepishly,

"Um.....hey......I was kinda hoping I'd be finished before you got back, did you have a nice walk?"

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Well since everyone's grumpy at me because we can't go find another job because I have this stupid cast on, I thought I'd remedy the situation and hack the damn thing off" he face erupted into a huge cheesy grin before he bent back over and started cutting pices of plaster off his leg with the machete,

"With a machete? are you trying to cut your leg off?" Dean scoffed at her,

"Come on babe, give me bit of credit" another large chunk fell to the floor,

"I hope you plan on cleaning this up when you've finished being an idiot"

"You may call me an idiot, but if this cast is off it means we can go looking for a new case, isn't that what you've all been complaining that you want?"

"Of course we want a new case, but what if your leg isn't healed properly? did you think of that Dr. Winchester?"

"Hey, I've worked through worse, it'll be fine, now do you want to get out of this town or not?"

"Of course I do"

"Then come over here and make yourself useful, there's a bit at the back here I can't reach"

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**Okay, so this chapter was pretty short and just kinda filler, think of it as a bridge if you will, getting us from one case to the next, but there was a little titbit of information about Amanda's past on there, did you catch it? **

**So don't forget to review, I love all comments, good and bad as they give me hints on what I'm doing right and wrong, I also love ideas, so if there is anything you'd like to see happen in this story, lay it on me! **


	14. Playtime

**I feel like a neglectful parent it's been so long since I updated, but now season 5 is amping up, I'm all motivated again! **

**Playtime  
**

Dean silently chuckled as he hit the capture button on his phone,

_another one for the collection _he thought to himself, he looked over at his younger brother with the glittery flower clip delicately placed in his hair, he was just too easy to mess with. He had found the hair clip stuck down the back of his seat, it must have been either Gracie's or Amanda's or perhaps it had been there longer, left by one of the many girls he had 'liaised' with in the impala. Dean had to amuse himself some way on these long drives, the others had long since fallen asleep, so he did what any self respecting older brother would do, humiliate his younger brother in his sleep, this photo was up there with his favourites, like the one with the plastic spoon hanging out of his mouth, or the time he drew little stars all over the side of Sam's face with a permanent marker, he'd tried it once when Gracie had fallen asleep in the front seat, but she hadn't spoken to him for two weeks after that and he hadn't had the courage to try again.

The road disappeared under the impala's tyres, Dean glanced down at the map beside him, they still had a few hours left to travel, Sam had found a job for them the next state over, he had to hand it to the boy, it was a damn sight easier finding jobs when you had a geek brother that had a laptop constantly attached to his fingers. It had caught Sam's eye as he trolled the internet for any weird stories. After an hour or so of research they had all the info they needed to hit the road.

The case seemed pretty interesting to Dean, and lord knows they were all keen as hell to get out of town, chances are they would have taken off even if the case had been a total dud. An article from a local town rag had taken their eye, it seemed like all the men in town had a case of the crazies, in a town with only a thousand or so residents in the past month about 30 percent of the adult male population had been arrested for violent crimes, before that, the crime rate had been virtually non existent, it was certainly strange enough to pique their interest. Gracie was going to pose as a state psychologist to get close to the men and see what was was happening with them, Amanda was going to be her assistant, Sam and Dean would play their usual FBI identities so they could gain access to vital information. Dean had originally protested to this arrangement as he didn't like the idea of the girls getting that close to obviously violent men, before he had finished his sentence she had his right arm twisted behind his back and his face rammed up against the wall, yep, she would be just fine, Amanda was also getting better at fighting, Sam had been slowly training her, she already looked leaner, stronger and a whole lot more bad ass than when they had first met, Dean was still a little unsure about the whole situation though, what sort of rational normal person just leaves their life in the blink of an eye to go hunt monsters with people they barely knew, but if that was what Sam wanted then who was he to argue, although it did mean he was spending a whole lot less time with his brother, he and Amanda seemed to spend all their time holed up in their room pouring through old books, Sam had said that he was going through stuff teaching her, but the way he had said it made Dean think perhaps there was some other reason behind the study sessions, he knew his brother as well as he knew himself and could tell when he was hiding something.

The sky was starting to lighten on the horizon, but Dean's passengers showed no sign of waking up, he looked over his shoulder at the girls in the back seat, Gracie's head had been resting on Amanda's shoulder but had slipped and her face was now sitting on Amanda's right breast,

_Damn, that shit's pretty hot, _ Dean thought to himself, he was tempted to pull over and take a photo, but reconsidered when he thought of what his girlfriend might do to him afterward. Sam was the first to stir, he tried to stretch but there just wasn't enough room for his lanky frame in the impala, he looked uncoordinated as he tried to manipulate his limbs in the small space.

"Where are we?" Sam asked,

"About an hour away"

"You should have woke me and let me drive for a bit, got some shut eye"

"We'd never get there if you drove, you drive like an old lady" Dean smirked at his brother, he wondered how long it would be until he noticed the hair clip. Sam pulled out his laptop to brush up on details before they hit town, it wasn't long before civilisation popped up around them, Sam looked up as the impala slowed and Dean pulled into a forlorn looking gas station.

"I am in serious need of caffeine, and it's about time these girls woke up" he stepped hard on the brake and both girls slid forward on the seat with Gracie smacking her head against the back of the front seat,

"Son of a bitch!" she moved back and rubbed her forehead,

"What the hell was that for?" if looks could kill Dean would be a smoldering pile of ash right now, he just laughed,

"Thought it was about time you lovely ladies woke up, how much beauty sleep do you think you need?" he winked at her, she just rolled her eyes at him, she couldn't stay mad at him when he was so darn cute. Sam reached over the seat and tucked a stray piece of hair behind Amanda's ear,

"Morning sleeping beauty" a slight blush rose in her cheeks,

"Morning, we there already?"

"Nearly, with Michael Schumacher here driving we made pretty good time"

"You wish you could drive like me bitch"

"Jerk" they all piled out of the car, everyone in a different stretching pose, Gracie looked at her reflection in the window,

"Ugh, I'm going to the restroom to clean up a bit, Dean can you grab me a hot chocolate and something to eat, but it better not be a cheeseburger or I'll kick your ass, get me a bagel or a croissant or at least something that resembles breakfast food" Amanda turned to follow Gracie,

"I need a quick wash too" she gave Sam a chaste peck on the lips on the way past, "Just grab me whatever, I trust you" Dean walked towards the door and yelled back,

"Okay Amanda, bacon cheeseburger it is" Sam leaned down and touched his forehead to hers,

"I promise I won't get you a cheeseburger" she looked up at him and giggled,

"What?"

"Do you like wearing glittery flower clips in your hair?" she reached up and gently pulled it out of his hair and held it up for him to see,

"DEAN!!"

The girls headed towards the rest rooms, they were surprisingly clean considering the state of the rest of the gas station, they were a damn sight better than some of the ones Gracie had used in the past, that's for sure. They both started unloading their toiletry bags onto the counter and tried to make it look like they hadn't slept the night in a car, Gracie looked over at Amanda while she pulled her hair up into a practical ponytail,

"You all ready for this?"

"Absolutely"

"Because no one would blame you if you were nervous"

"You know, I thought I would be, but Sam has been going through so much stuff with me and I don't know, it just feels like it's what I was born to do or something, like this is supposed to be my life" Gracie raised her eyebrows,

"This shouldn't be anyone's life, these things shouldn't exist, and I still can't believe you chose to be a part of this"

"Why's that?"

"Never have I seen someone choose this life, every hunter I've ever known has either been born into it or gone into it for some sort of revenge, actually I have a confession"

"Yeah"

"I thought you'd run for the hills after that case with Dean, I mean there's only so much crazy a person can take right? and afterwards I thought maybe you'd only stayed because of Sam, but now I see that you're serious about taking this on"

"I am serious about it, like I said I think it must be in my blood, it feels so natural to me"

"I worry about bringing other people into this sort of life, but at the same time I'm hell glad that I've got another female around, all the testosterone was starting to kill me" both girls laughed as they packed away their things,

"Let's go see what those boys have rustled up for breakfast"

Dean and Sam were leaning against the car waiting when the girls came out, brown paper bags strewn all over the bonnet, they threw their bags in the back seat and joined the boys leaning on the hood, Gracie opened up the closest bag,

"So, what's to eat?" she looked inside,

"Cheeseburger and pie?, this had better not be mine Dean Winchester"

"Would I do that to you?"

"Not if you knew what was good for you"

"That ones mine" he looked in another bag, "this one's yours" he held it out to her, she took it apprehensivly and looked inside, a big grin spread across her face as she pulled out a chocolate croissant, she took a big bite and moaned,

"You sure know the way into a girls heart"

"Damn, I was hoping it was a way into your pants, not your heart"

"Oh, yeah, you're a real romantic aren't you?" she tried to sound mad but couldn't stop herself from smiling. Sam pulled Amanda into his side and handed her a bag,

"Here's yours, I got you a muffin, hope that's okay"

"Sounds great" she said as she pulled the baked treat out of the bag, Sam leaned down and kissed the top of her head, Dean made a gagging noise,

"You two are going to make me throw up and waste a perfectly good burger, you're too lovey dovey, it makes me queasy" Amanda looked over at him,

"Just because we're not dysfunctional like you two" she poked her tongue out at him,

"DId you just poke your tongue out at me?" he laughed, "you know, you're growing on me kiddo"

"Good, because I plan on sticking around" Sam leaned in close and whispered in her ear,

"Sounds good to me"

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The four of them sat around the small table in Dean and Gracie's room going over the final details before they headed out to start investigating the new case, Dean couldn't keep his eyes of his girlfriend, she looked downright _hot _in a knee length charcoal grey pencil skirt and tight fitting white button up shirt that showed just the right amount of cleavage, her hair was twisted up and she had on a dangerous looking pair of black heels, she could almost fit into his favourite naughty librarian fantasy, he was snapped out of his daydream by Sam throwing his fake FBI badge to him, he leaned over as Gracie grabbed her ID,

"Here, let me" he said taking it out of her hands and clipping the tag onto her collar, he let his hand gently brush over her chest,

"Why, Dean, if I didn't know any better I'd think you were just trying to cop a feel" he looked affronted,

"Moi?" Sam cleared his throat,

"You guys finished? can we get this show on the road or what?" Dean looked over at his brother,

"Dude, you seriously need to loosen up a little"

"Whatever. Okay, so the plan is we're going to drop you girls off at the prison to interview the men, look for anything that may suggest possession, or perhaps a hex, see if they did anything different to their normal routine before they went loco" Gracie looked bored,

"Sam, I've done this before you know"

"I know you have, but Amanda hasn't and I'm counting on you to keep her safe and show her the ropes"

"It doesn't sound that hard Sam, I just have to lie my ass off" Dean laughed and put on a dodgy english accent,

"By george I think she's got it"

"You guys can laugh, but this is serious" Gracie frowned at him,

"Sammy, you really know how to bring down a room, you know that? We'll be fine, although I feel naked not carrying a gun or knife or something" Dean smirked, Grace slapped him across the chest,

"Don't even go there sunshine"

"Sorry, but I don't think that a psychologist would be carrying, and especially not into a prison"

"Fair call" Sam continued,

"So after we drop you guys we're going straight over to the police station, hopefully we can get a hold of their files and talk to the sheriff, he can give us a clearer idea of what's been going on" Gracie grabbed her leather satchel, she certainly looked the part she was playing today,

"Sounds like a plan Stan"

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The prison was about half an hour out of town, it was only small and it didn't have the foreboding maximum security feel of some of the prisons they'd visited before, it was a small county and didn't need anything more, most of the hardened criminals were shipped to the state penitentiary, luckily the prisoners that they wanted to speak to were still there, they were due to be transferred in the coming weeks.

Dean pulled the impala onto the verge a short distance from the entrance, both boys turned in their seats to look at the girls, Dean spoke first,

"You girls all good?"

"All good and raring to go" Gracie answered, she'd done this a hundred times before, it was just another day at the office for her, Amanda though, looked pale, Sam's face was full of concern,

"You sure you're ready to do this, if you want to wait back at the motel that's fine" she shook her head,

"No, it's just stage fright, I'll be fine, gotta get the hang of this somehow, I'll be fine" she repeated, it almost sounded like she was trying to convince herself as well as Sam. She took a deep breath and climbed out of the car, Gracie followed suit, Dean leaned out the window,

"Good luck girls" Gracie snorted,

"Luck has nothing to do with it mister, we're professionals" she held her head up in the air.

"Yeah, sure you are, just watch out for the cavity searches okay" she heard his laughter as he pulled away from them, she turned towards Amanda and saw that she had gone white as a ghost,

"You okay?"

"They don't really do cavity searches do they?" Gracie felt for her friend,

"Of course they don't sweetie, don't listen to a word he says, he was just being a dick"

"Okay"

"You ready to do this, I really need your game face on" Amanda took a deep breath and stood up straight,

"Let's do this"

They marched up to the gate, Amanda took note of the authority that Gracie exuded, that was something that she would definitely need to work on herself, she watched as Gracie presented herself at the guards booth without hesitation,

"Hi, I'm Dr. Abigail Young, I'm here to interview some of your inmates" she lifted up her ID for the guard to see, "and this is my assistant Holly Tyler" she gestured towards Amanda who showed her ID, he looked them over for a second or two before answering,

"Okay, wait a second and I'll call the warden down to meet you" he disappeared back into the small building, emerging not long later,

"He's heading straight down, if you'll just head over to the gate there I'll buzz you in"

They waited by the gate for it to open, it only took a moment before the large metal frame started to swing forward, Amanda was surprised by how she could feel the atmosphere change around her the second she was inside the grounds, it was like all the hope had been sucked from the air, it was a feeling of utter despair. The man walking towards them across the gravel yard was definitely now what either of them expected, he was about the same height as Gracie if not shorter and he had his long dirty blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, he wore some beige cargo pants and a plain polo shirt, but the biggest surprise was his choice of footwear, on his feet he wore thongs, he looked more like an ageing stoner than someone in charge of a prison, they met halfway across the yard, he held out his hand, Gracie was the first to grasp it,

"You must be Mr. Varner, I'm Dr. Young and this is my assistant Ms. Tyler"

"Please, no need to be so formal, just call me Steve, I believe you want to talk to some of my guests"

"Um, yes I have an interest in the sudden influx of inmates from the nearby town"

"I don't like to call them inmates here, I think guests sounds nicer, and it helps with their morale, why make their stay any more unpleasant right?"

"I think the whole point of prison is for it to be unpleasant, otherwise we'd be sending criminals to Cabo" the warden laughed like he heard the funniest joke on earth,

"I like you, you're funny" Gracie wasn't amused, she was sure this guy was a few fries short of a happy meal.

"Great, so can I talk to the....._guest_ then?" he was still chuckling, Gracie was glad that her and Amanda had come here, Dean would have bitch slapped some sense into this guy by now,

"Sure, I've set the private meeting room up for you, but I have to remind you that I have to record your conversations, legal reasons and all that"

"Of course" they had already thought of this situation and Gracie had packed extra blank cassettes in her satchel to swap with the real ones before they left.

Upon entering the building both girls almost recoiled in shock, the walls were covered in outrageous murals, there were rainbows, clouds, small animals, the sort of things you'd expect to see in a playgroup, not a prison, Amanda turned to the warden, she was totally confused, he started one of those annoying chuckles again,

"People are always so surprised when they walk in here, it's really something huh?" Gracie just couldn't believe it,

"Something's right" she muttered under her breath, the warden continued,

"I painted them all myself, I was feeling particularly artistic one day and thought I'd do something to brighten the place up a bit" he looked at her with a big shit eating grin on his face, it took a lot of restraint on her part not to wipe it on his face and tell him to grow the fuck up, instead she smiled sweetly,

"They're lovely, now, we really need to get some work done, the inmates..." he was quick to cut her off,

"Guests"

"Right, guests, well, the guests we'd like to talk to are Michael Sherwood, John Fraser and Matthew Ryan, we'll need them for about fifteen minutes each"

"No problem, I'll go grab Michael first, you girls shouldn't be nervous either, these guys are giant pussy cats, hard to believe that they did what they did really"

"Don't worry about us Mr. Varner, we can handle ourselves just fine" he left the room with his thongs making stupid flip flop sounds, Gracie looked over at Amanda,

"Can you believe that guy? what a douche"

"Well, he certainly wasn't what I was expecting"

They set up their own tape recorder and Amanda laid out her notepad in front of her, she would take notes while Gracie asked the questions, it was a good way for her to watch and learn. The warden returned with the inmate, he had on the usual unflattering orange jumpsuit, he looked rather quiet and unassuming, like a mild mannered accountant, not a violent criminal, Gracie stood up,

"Michael Sherwood? it's nice to meet you, I'm Dr. Young and this is Ms. Tyler, I hope you don't mind having a word to us today" he didn't raise his head to look at her, she had to lean forward to hear him,

"Whatever"

"Okay, so just take a seat here and we'll begin, due to legal reasons I have to remind you that this conversation is being recorded, do you consent to this?"

"Sure" he still hadn't lifted his head, the warden stood in the doorway,

"I'll leave you guys to it then, there will be a guard posted right outside the door, any troubles just yell"

"I think we'll be just fine Mr. Varner"

"No problems"

"So Michael, do you mind if I call you Michael?" he just shrugged,

"Michael, you're in here for assault?" he just nodded,

"You assaulted your local postman?" again he just nodded,

"You admit that you did it?" he finally looked up,

"I must have, I came to and I had blood all over me and Ken was lying in my front yard nearly dead, hard to argue the facts"

"You say you _came to_, did you black out?"

"I'm not sure, I can't really remember much of that day to be honest, or the last four weeks, it's like I would suddenly wake up and I have no idea what I'd done or how I got to where I was, and the mood swings..." he dropped his head into his hands,

"So you say this started about a month ago? did something happen in your life, some event or drastic change happen around then?"

"No, everything was going great, life was great"

"Before you started noticing the changes did you happen to see any black smoke?"

"Black smoke? are you self prescribing or something?"

"What about enemies, did you have any confrontations with anyone around that time?"

"You're a psychologist right? why do I feel like I'm being interrogated again? shouldn't you be more worried about my mental health?"

"I'm just trying to find what may have caused these black outs, traumatic events can often trigger schizophrenic episodes"

"I'm not insane"

"I never said you were, it could have even been a minuscule change that began all of this, was there any change to your normal routine?"

"No, every day was the same, get up, go to work, lunch at the river cafe, more work, drinks after work at the club" he paused "the only change was that we started going to the new bar in town some nights, the waitresses there were nice to look at instead of old Geeves at the club, I'm pretty sure that checking out some eye candy wouldn't contribute to psychotic episodes"

"You never know. You said you were having mood swings as well?"

"Yeah, I was just feeling so angry all the time, I'd blow up at the slightest thing, I was really tearing into people, I knew I was being a dick but I just couldn't stop myself"

"But all of this has stopped now?"

"Yeah, ever since I got in here"

"I think I have all the information I need, thanks for your time Michael, I'll forward a copy of any findings I might reach" Gracie and Amanda stood and watched Michael shuffle out the door, the warden poked hi head around the door jamb,

"Ready for your next visitor?"

"Sure send him in"

Gracie and Amanda spoke with the other two inmates, Gracie was impressed as Amanda started participating in the interviews, her confidence was picking up, both men had similair stories to Michael, black outs, mood swings, periods of rage and they both had started drinking at the new bar in town, and both made comments on how attractive the wait staff were.

Gracie made sure that she swapped the cassettes over before the warden returned and then endured his overly bubbly conversation as he escorted them out, that was the part of the job she hated, dealing with dicks. Sam and Dean were already waiting outside for them, she could hear the music coming from the impala from fifty metres away, he was listening to AC/DC again, he really needed some new music, she was sick of the same five albums. They walked up to the car and hopped in the back, Dean turned the music down and looked at Gracie,

"So what's their story"

"Well, it could be demon's, they all mention losing periods of time, and uncontrollable rage, but none of them saw anything like black smoke, it could be a hex, but none of them seem to have any enemies or pissed anyone off lately, the only other thing that they all seem to have in common is they all started drinking at the new bar in town, so I reckon that might be the best place to start, how did you guys go with the po po" Dean snickered at Gracie,

"No one says po po anymore Gracie"

"Well, maybe I'll be the one to start it up again" she said glaring at him, Sam spoke up,

"The sheriff didn't have a lot of time to talk to us, but we did get copies of all their files and interview transcripts, I've been going through them while we waited for you, it's interesting that you mention that bar, the majority of these guys mention that they were drinking there right before the shit hit the fan" Dean rubbed his hands together gleefully,

"So, who wants to go to a bar?!"

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**This chapter took a week to write, mostly because I let myself get distracted too easily, but rest assured I'm already working on the next, this case will be full of drama, intrugue and a little bit of action :P and I might give you a few answers too :) Since I'm working on this now I might be neglecting my other story for a bit, my poor 'ol brain struggles sometimes lol but I have loads of notes so it'll get there eventually.**

**Stay tuned for the next chapter, it'll be a little bit Sin City, a little Crossroad Blues and a little Sex and Violence, intrigued you yet?**

**All that's left for you to do is review!!!! pleeeeeease *begs*  
**


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